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PSYCHOLOGIC 
METHOD IN TEACHING 



BY 

WILLIAM ARCH McKEEVER, M. A., Ph. M. 

'I 

PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE KANSAS STATE 

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

AUTHOR OF "psychology AND HIGHER LIFE" 



A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 

CHICAGO 






vli'fK^ 



LIBRARY of C0N3R£SSl 
Tv/o CoDies Received 

MAH 20 iy09 

Copyrlgnt Entry ^ 
CLASS Ot KKc, iMo 

2.3^ 333 

COPY 3. 



Copyright, 1909 

BY 

A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 



>K 



TO MY TWO SONS 

HAROLD (October 30, 1900) 

AND 

WENDELL (May 18, 1905) 

THIS BOOK IS 
HOPEFULLY DEDICATED 



PREFACE 

No APOLOGY is offered for making this treatise a some- 
what elementary one. A majority of the pubHc-school 
teachers of the United States are comparatively young and 
inexperienced ; especially are those of the rural schools 
apt to be so. According to an estimate based on statistics 
from three typical counties in a typical middle-western 
state, the average term of experience of the newly elected 
district-school teachers was less than three years. Only 
thirteen per cent of these had attended a normal school. 
But these figures are probably too high. The Superin- 
tendent of Public Instruction of the same state estimates that 
more than one third of the district schools of the entire 
state are in charge of inexperienced teachers. 

Statistics gathered by the national Bureau of Education 
in 1904 show that in cities of eight thousand inhabitants or 
over, twenty-five per cent of the teachers had taught only 
four years, or less. But here the conditions for length of 
service are much more favorable than in rural schools. 
Now I believe that this fact of the comparative inexperi- 
ence of common-school teachers must be kept in mind by 
the writer who would most directly benefit them. 

In writing this book I have attempted to keep a number 
of other important matters in view, some of them being: 

V 



vi PEEFACE 

(i) That the best teacher is the one who is constantly 
developing his resourcefulness and insight through experi- 
ence; (2) that the child is always to be viewed opti- 
mistically — i. e., as one possessing many good, but prob- 
ably latent, potentialities which the teacher's insight must 
discover and bring out by means of the child's experience ; 
and (3) that an understanding of principles and meanings 
through conscious experience rather than memory methods, 
is to be the predominating rule in the education of the 
young. 

My views on Educational Psychology have been matured 
and greatly influenced by the reading of the many published 
works of Professors James, Dewey, Baldwin and Boyce, and 
by lectures taken under all but the first named. 

I am greatly indebted to my colleagues, Professors J. E. 
Kammeyer and Wm. H. Andrews — to the former for many 
valuable criticisms and suggestions ; to the latter for care- 
fully reading the proof sheets and for advice as to the 
arrangement of the subject matter of the book. Mr. Charles 
W. Burkett, manager of the New York office of the Orange- 
Judd Co., has given me valuable assistance in the prepara- 
tion of the chapter on Elementary Agriculture ; and Miss 
Ella Weeks, of the Kansas State Agricultural College, in 
the preparation of the chapter on Art and Industry. 

WILLIAM A. McKEEVER. 
Manhattan, Kansas, February, 1909. 



CONTENTS 

Part I The Groundwork 

CHAPTER I 

THE MEANING OF EDUCATION 

An Allegory 3 

Too Much Mechanicalness 4 

A Beginning 4 

Have a Theory 5 

Not Metaphysics 5 

Some Ends Less Remote 6 

A Vocation 6 

Eaee History 7 

Human-Nature Study 8 

Current Events Interpreted 8 

Power of Growth ' 9 

Appreciating the Commonplace 9 

The Child 's Society 10 

EEFERENCES 12 

CHAPTER H 

THE FIRST LESSONS 

Inventory 13 

No Innate Ideas 13 

Simple Instincts • 14 

Self -Activity 15 

vii 



viii CONTENTS 

Further Meaning of Impulses 16 

The School of Adversity. 17 

The Beginnings of Habit 18 

The Problem 19 

The Beginner 19 

The Central Nervous System 20 

Keaction 22 

Brain-Building 23 

The School of Experience 23 

EEFEEENCES 25 

CHAPTER III 

THE MEANING OF ERROR IN EDUCATION 

Every Error Eecorded 26 

A False View 26 

In .Esthetics and Ethics 28 

Eesult of Bad Suggestion 29 

Emotional Value 30 

In Volition 32 

Function of the Teacher 32 

EEFEEENCES 34 

CHAPTER IV 

PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER 

Present Conditions 35 

A Practical Problem 35 

A Weak Spot 36 

Too Much Review 38 

The Source of Power. 38 

An Abomination 39 

Thought Germination 39 

District-School Teaching 41 

Good Expression ' 41 

The Normal Course 42 



CONTENTS ix 

Summer Schools 44 

A Course in Beading 45 

EEFEKENCES 49 

CHAPTER V 

PSYCHOLOGIC PRINCIPLES 

The Steps in Detail 50 

Higher Distinctions 51 

How Perception Goes On 52 

Imagination in Teaching 52 

Memory 54 

Making Impressions . 55 

The Old Question of Attention 55 

The Nerves Kemember 57 

Retaining Impressions 57 

Eecalling Impressions, the Logical Memory 58 

Thinking 58 

Imitation 59 

Conclusion 60 

EEFEKENCES 62 

CHAPTER VI 

THE RECITATION 

Importance 63 

First Purpose to Develop the Individual 63 

To Test Knowledge 64 

To Test Ignorance 64 

To Eradicate Backwardness 65 

To Improve Thinking 66 

To Develop Expression 66 

To Connect the School and Society 68 

To Bring Out Individuality 68 

Preparation of the Teacher 70 

Reviewing 70 



X CONTENTS 

Outside Eeading 70 

Self-Confidence • 71 

Assigning Lessons 71 

Art of Study Acquired by Pupil 72 

Finding a Problem 73 

Significant Lesson Features 75 

Time to Study 75 

Eef erence Work 76 

EEFEEENCES 77 

CHAPTER VII 

THE RECITATION— (Continued) 

The Problem 78 

. The Topic Method 79 

Questions and Answers 80 

Leading Questions 82 

Some Small Matters 82 

Off the Subject 83 

Stand or Sit 84 

Daily Grading 85 

Eeviews 86 

Examinations 86 

Part II The Special Branches of Instruction 

INTEODUCTOEY 93 

CHAPTER VIII 

EEADING 

Self -Examination 95 

The Ultimate Aim 96 

A Less Eemote Aim 97 

Which Method? 98 

The Word Method 99 



CONTENTS xi 

The Sentence Method 99 

The A-B-C Method 100 

The Secret of Success 101 

The First Lesson 101 

Go Slowly 102 

The Technique of Reading 104 

Technique and Motive 105 

The Spirit of the Lesson 106 

Criticism by Pupils 108 

The Teacher 's Opportunity 108 

Supplementary Eeading 109 

EEFERENCES Ill 

CHAPTER IX 

LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION 

Language 112 

The Aims of Constructive Language-Teaching 112 

The Lesson Plan 112 

Additional Topics and Methods 113 

Reconstructive, or Corrective, Language-Teaching 114 

Imitation 114 

The Problem Stated 115 

Oral Teaching 116 

Stir Them Up ' 117 

The Problem Twofold 117 

Written Composition 118 

When and How to Begin 120 

Choosing a Theme 120 

A Definite Plan 121 

Practice and Habit 122 

Outlining the Theme 123 

The Recitation Period 125 

Gathering Material 126 

Study Good Examples 127 

Topics for Themes 128 

EEFERENCES 132 



xii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER X 

ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS 

Numbers 133 

Make the First Lessons Concrete 134 

Instinct for Counting 134 

A Definite Aim 135 

Developing the Abstract 136 

Back to the Concrete 138 

More Advanced Work 138 

Fractions ., 139 

Arithmetic .-^ 140 

The Aims 140 

The Special Subjects 144 

Exercises 146 

Elementary Algebra 148 

Nature of the Subject 148 

Theorems in Multiplication 150 

Similar Operations 152 

Factoring 152 

EEFEEENCES 153 



CHAPTER XI 
AET AND INDUSTRY 

Drawing 154 

The Child 's Nature 155 

Is There an Instinct for Drawing? 155 

The Imaginative Period 156 

Proceed Slowly i 156 

Subjects for Imaginative Period 156 

The Coordinative Period 159 

The New Mental Attitude 159 

Subjects for Coordinative Period 160 

The .Esthetic Period , 162 



CONTENTS xui 

Little Direction Necessary 162 

Subjects for Esthetic Period 163 

The School Garden 164 

Meaning of Manual and Industrial Education 164 

What Can Be Accomplished? 165 

Management 165 

Plotting the Ground 166 

Preparing and Planting 166 

Care and Handling 167 

KEFEEENCES 168 



CHAPTER XII 

GEOGRAPHY AND NATURE STUDY 

Geography All-inclusive 169 

Objects of Nature Study 173 

Not Science 173 

May Be a Eelated Subject 174 

How the Child-Mind Acts 175 

Study Processes 175 

Study Purposes • 176 

Character-Building Considered 177 

REFERENCES 180 



CHAPTER XIII 

ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

A Public-School Subject 181 

Who Can Teach It? 182 

Who Is to Study Agriculture ? 183 

How to Make Agriculture Interesting 184 

Make a Few Excursions 185 

Encourage Questions 185 

A Course of Instruction 185 

Lessons on the Soil 186 



xiv CONTENTS 

The Plant 188 

Enemies of Plants 189 

Farm Products 190 

Orchard and Garden Produce 191 

Domestic Service Animals 192 

Domestic Animals for Food 193 

Farm Improvements and Adornments 194 

BOOKS FOR SCHOOL LIBRARIES 195 



CHAPTER XIV 

ENGLISH GBAMMAB- 

Relation to Language-Study 196 

Why Study Grammar? 197 

A Practical Subject 198 

The Meaning of Terms 200 

Rules of Practice 201 

REFERENCES 208 



CHAPTER XV 

HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT 

What Is History? 209 

The Groundwork .210 

The War Element 211 

Diplomacy vs. War 213 

Current History 214 

The Recitation in History 216 

Civil Government 217 

The Departments of Government 219 

The Various Forms 220 

The United States 220 

Teaching Patriotism 222 

REFERENCES 224 



CONTENTS XV 

CHAPTER XVI 

PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE 

Purposes of Instruction 225 

Methods of Instruction 227 

Keep Out the Morbid 229 

Use Simple Terms 230 

EEFERENCES 234 

CHAPTER XVn 

GENEBAI. EXEHCISES 

Music 235 

Some Specific Values 235 

The Teacher 's Musical Ability 237 

The Devotional Service 244 

Current Events 245 

The Khetoricals 247 



Part III Moral Instruction 

CHAPTER XVni • 

THE TEACHER'S PERSONALITY 

Indirect Instruction 255 

Fullness of Experience 256 

A Broader Sympathy 257 

Tolerance 258 

Consistency and Frankness 260 

High Ideals 261 

Self-Knowledge and Self-Mastery 262 

Firmness 264 

Spiritual-Mindedness 266 

REFERENCES 268 



xvi CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XIX 

MENTAL ATTITUDE OF THE PUPIL 

Developing Sentiment 269 

Pointing Out Pitfalls 271 

Some Mental Effects 273 

Holier Than Thou 274 

The Spirit of Democracy 275 

Eewards and Prizes 276 

Private Talks 277 

The Awakening Consciousness 280 

REFEEENCES 281 

CHAPTER XX 

THE RULES OF THE SCHOOL 

Policy of School Government 282 

The Ends to Be Sought 282 

Few Eules 283 

Certain Eiiles Inadvisable 285 

The Sentiment of the School 286 

The Eeformation 287 

Punishment 287 

A Double Wrong ^ 289 

Manner of Punishment 289 

Corporal Punishment 290 

True Affection 291 

Tonic Effect 292 

EEFEEENCES 294 

CHAPTER XXI 

DEMOCRACY IN THE SCHOOL 

Conflicting Tendencies 295 

The Beginnings of Aristocracy 295 



CONTENTS xvii 

Wrong Incentive 296 

•Our History Democratic 299 

The Real Nobility 300 

Public Conscience 301 

Methods of Procedure 302 

The Spirit of Work 304 

Emotional Experience 305 

REFERENCES 308 

CHAPTER XXII 

THE MORAL ASPECTS OF ATHLETICS 

The Child 's Nervous Energy 309 

Directed Impulse 309 

Morality and Strength of Bod}' 310 

Every Teacher a Physical Director , 311 

The Question of Rivalry 314 

The Moral Aspect 315 

An Example 317 

Athletics for the School 318 

A Cure for Depravity 319 

REFERENCES 322 

CHAPTER XXIII 

SCIENTIFIC CHILD-TRAINING 

Old-Fashioned Methods 323 

Agricultural Experiment Stations 323 

Well-Born but Poorly Reared 325 

A Scientific Method Suggested 326 

Mental Development Recapitulated 327 

Man Long an Infant 329 

A Question Outline 330 

REFERENCES 332 



INTRODUCTION 

The annual output of books on various phases of educa- 
tion in this country and in Europe is well nigh bewildering. 
Some of these treatises are technical in character and appeal 
to special classes of readers, but the vast majority are 
designed to benefit a much larger constituency. Unless 
it be those that treat of the historical development of educa- 
tional systems, the others are chiefly devoted to a discussion 
of the nature and possibilities of the child as an object of 
training and culture, or to the subject-matter with which it 
must become familiar in books and with the outside world. 
During the last two decades the meaning and scope of 
education have been both widened and deepened, and atten- 
tion, instead of being centered so much on the subject-mat- 
ter of instruction, is now centered in the child as a creature 
susceptible of continuous development. This is the stand- 
point of the author of "Psychologic Method in Training," 
who sets forth his views in remarkably simple and clear 
language. In no chapter has he written above the head of 
the young man or the young woman just beginning his or 
her first country school. One of the chief faults with most 
of the educational writers of the present day, is a straining 
for eflfect in trying to appear very learned in order to be 



XX INTRODUCTION 

rated as a psychologist, sociologist, biologist, or some other 
high-sounding disturber of commonplace things. 

This volume is a message from a teacher to teachers, and 
it is told so that they can understand it, digest each chapter, 
assimilate it, and use it in their everyday work. The reader 
is told what to see, how to interpret it when it is seen, and 
then how to manage it so as to produce the most direct and 
beneficial results to the child. The object is to give the 
teacher an insight into the forces that are employed in de- 
veloping and training a human being from infancy to old 
age. 

The work is divided into three parts. The first embodies 
the theory of education in which the principles and method 
are discussed briefly, yet clearly, so that any reader of 
ordinary understanding can comprehend and see the bearing 
of each chapter on the general scope and character of in- 
struction. The nature, the condition, the aptitudes of the 
child are emphasized sufficiently to impress the teacher with 
the meaning and significance of education in its best sense. 
- The chapter on the "Meaning of Error in Education" 
is a new presentation of a much-neglected phase of this 
many-sided subject, and it is a valuable contribution to the 
vast volume of educational literature of this country. Or 
stating the same thing in another form, when pupils are 
perfect in behavior and recitation, it is an appropriate time 
to investigate the condition of that school to break up 
stagnation. 

The other divisions of the volume present methods of 



INTRODUCTION xxi 

handling the different subjects to be taught in the common 
schools. Different methods are presented and discussed as 
guides by which to work, and they are in each case prac- 
tical, suggestive and helpful, so that the teacher with moder- 
ate insight will not be groping his way in the dark. 

The teacher who can read himself or herself into each 
chapter will find this a most stimulating volume, and in no 
instance is the author tedious or uninteresting. It is just 
such a treatise as teachers need for home study, reading 
circles, county institutes, and training classes in normal 
schools. It is written by a teacher for teachers, and no one, 
whether parent or teacher, who begins to read this book will 
willingly put it aside till the last sentence is read. In reading 
the manuscript, like Oliver Twist, when I came to the end, 
I wanted more! 

J. M. GREENWOOD. 

Kansas City, Missouri, February i8, 1909. 



PART I 

THE GROUNDWORK 



PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

CHAPTER I 

THE MEANING OF EDUCATION 

An Allegory. Some one has related a story in sub- 
stance as follows : Once upon a time a man skilled in 
the use of carpenters' tools went forth to ply his trade. He 
was faithful in the performance of his tasks, and he strove 
hard and earnestly to carry on his work in strict accordance 
with the specifications made out by others for his guidance. 
Now, it chanced that this good man was engaged con- 
stantly in raising the first part of the superstructure — that is, 
the framework erected upon foundations already laid — of a 
certain class of buildings. After many years of conscien- 
tious eiifort this faithful tradesman acquired a high degree 
of efficiency. He displayed a remarkable memory for the 
small details of his work ; e. g., he remembered readily the 
number and kind of nails to be used in securing each piece 
of timber, and how to saw or chisel or mortise each and 
every beam, as well as how to make the joints and cross 
connections. In short, this skillful artisan, whose name was 
Skolastikos, was painstaking and conscientious and thor- 

3 



4 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

oughly in love with his work, and those with whom he 
labored were very fond of him. If he possessed a fault at 
all, it was probably this : It did not occur to him to try 
to gain any adequate knowledge of the purpose or the mean- 
ing of either the foundation or the completed whole of the 
structure upon which he was engaged. 

Too Much Mechanicalness. The author's purpose in 
introducing this treatise on method in education with so 
crude and homely a representation as the foregoing is to 
indicate, if possible, the objectionable nature of some of the 
work being done in our public schools. Although faith- 
ful and diligent almost to a fault, the common-school teacher 
often is inclined to be short-sighted and mechanical in the 
presentation of the ordinary lesson. An attempt will be 
made later to show that this mechanicalness is due in part, 
(i) to the teacher's failure to acquire for himself an ade- 
quate conception of the basic principles or the ultimate 
meaning of education ; (2) to his lack of a comprehensive 
grasp of the subject taught, which is secured only by wide 
knowledge of kindred subjects ; (3) to a failure to develop 
and draw upon his own native resources in the work of 
teaching. 

A Beginning. In beginning this discussion of the 
meaning of education let us ask a common-sense question 
or two. For example : ( i ) What are some of the distin- 
guishing marks you would have a person possess after his 
formal education is finished and his character relatively 
matured? In other words, what do you desire the boy or 
the girl under your instruction ultimately to become? (2) 



THE MEANING OF EDUCATION 5 

What sort of member of juvenile society do you desire him 
to be as he proceeds on his way to the ultimate goal of his 
instruction ? 

Now, it is admitted that no two thoughtful persons would 
answer the first question in precisely the same way. Such 
specific agreement could be neither expected nor regarded 
as necessary. It seems fair to 'say, however, that every 
one who teaches the young ought at least to give this 
matter serious thought — if for no other reason, in the inter- 
est of acquiring a better method. Such contemplation or 
reflection on the part of every teacher would tend to do 
away with the short-sightedness that characterizes much 
of the present-day schoolroom work. 

Have a Theory. It is recommended that every teacher 
have a theory of his own as to what the ultimate goal 
of education is. This theory will develop and take on wider 
and more definite limits as experience increases. It is an 
astounding fact that a large number of teachers still adhere 
to the old-time idea that instruction consists, somehow, 
in packing away knowledge in the learner's mind. So long 
as this view obtains the process of learning will be cramp- 
ing and the method of teaching artificial. Unnatural 
methods of forcing the attention and of developing interest 
will have to be resorted to as a consequence. IMany of the 
present-day text-books on pedagogy tend to perpetuate 
these conditions. 

Not Metaphysics. It is not intended here to ofifer 
either a metaphysical or a philosophical treatise on the 
meaning of education. In such a work the Kantian idea of 



6 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

God as man's origin, freedom as his nature, and immor- 
tality as his destiny, is a fit subject for discussion. Here, 
however, the interest must center chiefly in meanings less 
vague and ends less remote. As a rule, the teacher who 
is still young enough in experience to be interested in a 
work on methods will not be inclined to take up a 
metaphysical discussion. 

Some Ends Less Remote. What, then, it is asked 
again, might well be in the teacher's consciousness as 
regards the attainments to become actualized in the pupil 
by the time the latter is fully matured ? As a sort of guide 
to this entire treatise, and as a possible incentive to the 
teacher to look beyond the mere lesson, we might consider 
the following as some of the characteristics of the relatively 
mature, educated person : (i) He is devoted to and able 
to sustain himself in some honorable vocation. (2) He 
knows in outline the history of the race and of the great 
human institutions. (3) He possesses a wide and sym- 
pathetic knowledge of human nature. (4) He is able 
to reflect seriously upon the great questions of the times 
and to form independent judgment thereon. (5) He has 
the power of mental growth and of readjustment to an 
everchanging environment. (6) He is able to appreci- 
ate aesthetically commonplace objects and commonplace 
situations. 

A Vocation. The bread-and-butter question is placed 
first. It seems fair to say that every young person ought 
to be prepared by education and training to make his own 
way in the world. Let this rule apply to youth of both 



THE MEANING OF EDUCATION 7 

sexes and even to those who have a prospect of a large 
inheritance ; for although the latter may never know the 
meaning of poverty they cannot deal justly with the world 
and with themselves without having had some first-hand 
acquaintance with productive labor. 

There are some, even among teachers, who are dis- 
posed to bemean manual labor and to insinuate as an 
incentive to studiousness that a good education is a means 
of escape from hard work. Such sentiments inculcated for 
any length of time will certainly tend to entice pupils into 
the pathway of dishonesty. The boy who is led to regard 
education merely as a means of avoiding hard work and 
responsibility will soon be devising schemes for avoiding 
also the labor of learning. He will be a dreamer and a 
schemer, one who is always looking for a short cut to suc- 
cess and to fortune. Would it not be better to urge the 
sentiment that all honest, faithful work is honorable, and 
that an increase in learning means an increase of capacity 
for hard work and for efficient service?' Such sentiment 
as this is most potent as an incentive to study, if rightly 
presented, and it lies at the very basis of all that is good 
and substantial in modern character and modern society. 

Race History. The ordinary educated person cannot 
expect to retain the finer details of history, but he must 
have gone over such details in a general course of study 
and reading so that he may have in mind an outline of the 
world's history and be better able thereby to interpret cur- 
lent events. The common conception of the human race 
is too narrow. There is still too much inclination to believe 



8 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

that this or that race or class of people has been favored 
by Divine Providence to the hurt of another. Hence arise 
prejudices and caste distinctions instead of an increasing 
tendency toward race unity — a thing more to be desired. 
In the chapter on teaching history I shall try to make this 
matter clearer and to bring out a new interpretation of 
patriotism. 

Human-Nature Study. In this volume there will be 
an attempt to show in detail how the growing mind may 
enter into closer relationship with other minds. Why are 
men everywhere so ready to trample upon the rights and 
feelings of other men ? Are not selfishness and supercilious- 
ness, and the like, merely other names for ignorance ? Look 
about you and observe how utterly incapable many well- 
meaning people are of seeing things from the point of view 
of their neighbors, rivals, or competitors, and you will 
admit that there is some justification for urging a closer 
study of human nature. He who lacks a sympathetic insight 
into the motives and purposes of others is not half 
acquainted with himself. 

Current Events Interpreted. The world's history is 
being wrought out every day, but comparatively few are 
they who observe and interpret it in the making. Why 
is it that so many persons — especially school-teachers — 
are accustomed to attach little or no significance to 
events until they are recorded in some text-book on his- 
tory? The author was led to infer, when a student of this 
subject in the district school, that the world's history came 
to an ignominious end shortly after the close of the Civil 



THE MEANING OF EDUCATION 9 

War in the United States. Such teaching as is here impUed 
gives the mind a wrong attitude toward current events 
and renders it habitually closed to their meaning.* 

Power of Growth. The mind has a tendency to 
shrivel up and stop growing as soon as the period of 
formal instruction is past. This also may be due to a wrong 
method of teaching. If the method was one of cramming 
— one of storing up in the mind or memory a lot of hard- 
and-fast facts — then the student certainly went out from the 
school with the thought that his education was finished, 
and his mind therefore became gradually closed to new 
ideas. The power of mental growth was never really 
acquired. Nothing but a relatively fixed, narrow routine 
of thinking can ever be possible to such a mind. 

Let us merely ask a question here and try to answer it 
later : What habits of learning and thinking can be instilled 
during the school period to the end that the mind 
may remain fresh and young and responsive to new 
environments, even to the close of a long life ? 

Appreciating the Commonplace. The thoughtful stu- 
dent of human affairs will notice a growing disposition, 
especially on the part of our recently created leisure classes, 
to become restless and discontented in the presence of com- 
monplace situations and to proceed ever more actively in 
the direct pursuit of happiness. The pessimist would inter- 
pret this inordinate seeking after sensuous pleasure as fore- 
shadowing the degeneracy of the race. While such pessi- 
mism is not justifiable, the condition of mind just described 

* See the chapter on liistory for a fuller treatment of this subject. 



10 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

is a menace to a wholesome state of society ; therefore, 
the thoughtful teacher will seek the development of poise 
and stability in the growing character as well as of strenu- 
ousness and a certain amount of healthy discontent. Finally 
let the teacher consider how the young mind may be so 
schooled as to be able to see "sermons in stones, books in 
running brooks, and good in everything." 

The Child's Society. The discussion of the first ques- 
tion, as regards the child's future, has been somewhat 
lengthy. Less space will be given the second one, viz., what 
sort of member of juvenile society do you desire the child 
to be as he proceeds on his way to his ultimate goal? We 
are all prone to project life too far into the future and to 
underestimate the living present. The question concern- 
ing the boy should not be. What sort of man is he to become ? 
any more than. What is he to do and be while he is grow- 
ing to maturity? Every day of his life the child is a very 
active member of a real society. He is constantly making 
some one else glad or sad, or otherwise stirring up the 
feelings of others by- his conduct. 

It is a mistake to expect children to mature rapidly and 
a still greater one to push them. They must pass through 
the various stages of growth slowly and completely and 
make no skips or leaps into maturity. What is more to be 
desired is a gradual process of refining during which there 
may be a steady growth' into higher rationality, morality 
and spirituality. This can be possible only through wide 
and varied experience of trial and error. It must be insisted 
upon by those who have oversight of the child that he have 



THE MEANING OF EDUCATION H 

a reasonable amount of the experience that is trying and 
bad per se, in order that in the end he may have a 
"completely fashioned will." 

The sort of member of society the child is to be during 
the several school periods of his growth will be indicated 
both directly and indirectly and in considerable detail 
throughout the pages of this book. 



EEFERENCES 

The references will be classified in three groups. Group I will 
give such as have direct, explicit bearing upon the subject-matter 
of the chapter; group II will give those that are more general; 
group III will refer to readings that are slightly more advanced and, 
as a rule, somewhat philosophical in their manner of treatment. 

I 

1 Butler: The Meaning of Education (Macmillan) ; Lecture I, 

on the same topic as the book title. A clear statement. 

2 Devfey: The School and Society (McClure, Phillips); Ch. II, 

"The School and the Life of the Child." Very helpful. 
Bead the book through. 

II 

1 Eoark: Psychology in Education (American Book Co.); Intro- 

duction. 

2 Bagley: The Educative Process (Macmillan); Ch. II, "The 

Function of the School." 

Ill 

1 Henderson: Education and the Larger Life (Houghton, 

Mifflin) ; Ch. I, "The Point of View." A good statement 
of the social-ethical point of view. 

2 Ladd: The Higher Education (Scribner's) ; Ch. TV, "A Modern 

Liberal Education. ' ' A very valuable philosophical treatment 
of the subject. 

3 Keith: Elementary Education (Scott, Foresman) ; Ch. II, "The 

Aim of Education." Comprehensive. 



12 



CHAPTER II 

THE FIRST LESSONS 

Inventory. Having made a rough sketch of some of the 
points that characterize the well-schooled, well-matured 
person, let us now take inventory of the stock of learning 
possessed by the ordinary child just before entering school, 
and note, if possible, some of the means whereby he has. 
acquired this knowledge. The teacher who hopes to attain 
a rational pedagogic insight must make the child his chief 
text-book. Study the little child and note not only what 
he knows and can do, but also and especially how he comes 
by this knowledge. Sit at his feet. Learn from him, under- 
stand how he gradually builds up a world out of his experi- 
ences, and the work of teaching him will become trans- 
' formed from drudgery into a labor of love and delight. 

No Innate Ideas. According to the best evidences 
obtainable, the human infant comes into the world without 
a single idea of the meaning of anything. Anatomical evi- 
dence reveals a nervous mechanism fairly well organized, 
but with many of the connections either wanting or only 
slightly developed. The different parts of the brain seem 
to be present in the embryo, but they lack mdividuality. 
For instance, the convolutions are observable, but they are 
almost entirely without depth and that definite form which 

13 



14 PSYCHOLOGIC MET BOD IN TEACHING 

characterizes the brain of the mature, intelligent man. The 
casual observer, however, can easily perceive one thing with 
reference to the new-born child, namely, that he is sensitive 
to a certain mild degree. There is a wax in his ears to 
deaden the impact of the sound waves there and the retinae 
seem to respond somewhat feebly to the - stimulations of 
light. There is evidence, too, of a rather low degree of 
sensitiveness to simple stimulations such, for example, as 
a pin thrust in the flesh. 

Simple Instincts. The nervous organism of the new- 
born infant seems to be such, then, as to make him mildly 
sensitive to contacts with the world without, and he begins 
at once to make some rather indefinite responses to these 
outer stimuli.* These responses are of three kinds : 
instinctive, reflex, and impulsive. 

Now, the infant has at least two instincts that are of the 
greatest importance to him. He can cry out appealingly 
and thus strike a tender and responsive chord in the heart 
of his natural mother ; and he is capable of that drawing-in 
process essential for nursing. The most important events of 
the first fortnight of his existence are continuous slumbers 
broken only at frequent intervals for taking nourishment. 
This simple mode of life means much to him, for during 
this time the tissues of the body are being built up — among 
others the nervous ones — and he 13 getting ready for a 
fuller degree of sensitiveness to the outer world of facts and 
a more pronounced response to them. During these early 

* By outer stimulus is meant anything that stirs up or makes 
responsive a child's nerves. 



THE FIRST LESSONS 15 

days of bodily nourishment, tlic nervous system of the ehikl 
is gradually getting into a better condition for action. To 
illustrate, the waxy substance is gradually removed from 
the ear so that impressions may reach him through that sense 
organ. The eye structure seems to undergo certain slight 
rearrangements resulting in greater sensitiveness to light. 
The outer nerve termini also doubtless take on gradual 
transformations — the nerves of touch, for example, being 
for a while very weak in their responses. The little nervous 
system is thus made readier and stronger for its work. The 
result is not unlike that of strengthening the electrical cur- 
rent in a telephone by improving the nature of the trans- 
mitting medium, or by making a better connection, as we say. 
Self-Activity. The center of life for the infant is the 
stomach. Reflex acts look after the digestive, assimilative, 
and excretive processes. But while his condition is ranging 
all the way from the hunger of an empty stomach to the 
satiety of a full one, he experiences a considerable variety 
of feelings. When his hunger is satisfied, if not asleep 
this little child feels exceedingly well, and he manifests 
his condition by a series of impulsive acts — cooing, kicking, 
writhing, and the like. These movements are undirected 
but pleasurable, as they relieve a sort of pent-up condition 
of the nerves. Again, the child is hungry, and a (lilTerent 
series of acts results — crying and the accompanying con- 
tortions. More or less pain is now present, for the nerves 
are affected differently. Two important facts are to be 
noted here : ( i ) These impulsive movements are outforc- 
ings of the child's mere animal nature. (2) These acts 



]6 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

form the basis of his knowledge-getting. The general 
problem of education is to make them definite. 

Further Meaning of Impulses. It is very important 
that the reader get the point of view intended here, so at 
the risk of its becoming tedious, the discussion will be 
somewhat lengthened. To repeat, then, the child's earliest 
knowledge must all develop out of his impulses; that is, 
out of the undirected self-activity referred to above. This 
self-activity must be present in considerable force and variety 
if the education is to go on satisfactorily. 

Now, it is not difficult to observe that the nature and 
amount of these impulsive movements are relative to the 
degree of bodily comfort or discomfort. There is common 
to many teachers and more mothers, a mistaken opinion that 
makes them over-anxious about the bodily comfort of chil- 
dren. At the least indication of the child's hunger or 
other want they try to furnish at once the means of a 
speedy relief. You may take a kitten and keep him stuficd 
full of fresh milk and he will grow fat and glossy, but he 
will also be sluggish and will not learn the tricks of kitten 
play so readily as the one fed at less frequent intervals. 
The kitten plays best — and hence learns most — and the 
caged bird sings best, after a hearty meal has been pretty 
well digested. That is, the bodily condition is then such 
as to force out the maximum amount of characteristic 
activity. In this respect human nature is not much unlike 
the lower animal nature. Take, for example, the case of a 
creeping child ten months old. and follow him through 
a cycle of his activity. He is given a hearty meal and 



THE FIKST LESSONS 17 

becomes stupid and perhaps sleepy for an hour. Gradually, 
as the nourishment passes from his stomach in the act of 
assimilation, he becomes wider and wider awake and more 
active in his play. Little movements executed indifferently, 
if at all, during the sluggish period are now performed with 
much greater force. It would be a serious mistake to 
give the child another hearty meal just here, and make 
him again stupid, for the cycle of experiences is not com- 
plete. Let him go on till the point of actual hunger is 
reached and observe the growing intensity of his move- 
ments. Observe a sort of fierceness in his conduct as the 
hungry child struggles with his little entanglements, as he 
slings objects away from him and puts out across the floor 
on all fours, screaming for another meal. He is living 
intensely, and acquiring those valuable lessons of experience 
that come only from bodily conditions that are more or less 
painful. 

The School of Adversity. The people of this modern 
age with its easy methods and labor-saving devices are 
prone to lose sight of the great value of the lessons of 
want and deprivation. "Sweet are the uses of adversity." 
In the biography of every great soul there is a chapter 
which says in substance, "During his early years he had 
a hard struggle with adverse conditions, and thus learned 
the lessons of self-reliance and achievement." The deleteri- 
ous effects of the misplaced solicitude of parents who 
pamper their children are here brought to mind. Wealthy 
parents who have ample means of supplying every childish 
want, as a rule simply cannot refuse the many little requests 



18 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

of their boys and girls. "My child shall never be in want of 
anything while he is growing up," is too often the motto, 
and the result naturally is a spoiled, perverted nature that 
in the end is active onl^y in sensuous self-indulgence. 

The Beginnings of Habit. As the undirected, impul- 
sive ' movements continue, it is, of course, true that the 
infant gradually learns to direct them. His kickings and 
strikings are not long merely "in the air." In time he 
succeeds in putting his little hand into some definite position 
— a purposive act — as in closing it to grasp some object. 
Now give him a rattle and shake the hand containing the 
toy back and forth a few times. He soon learns to do this 
simple act unaided, and perhaps to do it in a certain, fixed 
manner. A habit is being formed by slow degrees. Again, 
observe the creeping child of ten months, say, as he climbs 
up and down the porch steps. His way of getting up and 
down may be very awkward and by no means the best, but 
he tends to continue performing the movement in pretty 
much the same manner — habit again. Now, here is the 
point where the teacher comes into service ; but mark you, 
not to give knowledge — a function erroneously attributed 
to the teacher — but to direct the learner in acquiring knowl- 
edge. By means of a little directing the child's poor manner 
of doing a thing is gradually changed into a better one. 
As a rule, all his little errors are good and necessary as 
matters of experience, but they must not be permitted to 
go on till they become fixed habits. 

The task urged upon the teacher just here is that the 
many little acts of the child, which are tending at all 



THE HKST LESSONa 19 

times toward fixed habits, must be observed closely and 
gradually turned into more desirable forms. It is often 
advisable to throw the child overboard, so to speak — that is, 
to place him in a new and trying situation and let him 
work his way out unaided. There is always danger of too 
much and too hast}- directing of his efiforts. 

The Problem. The last statement above needs empha- 
sis. It ma}' be that the child is trying to thrust a stick 
between the rounds of a chair, or to build a block house, or 
to add a small column of figures. In every case, give 
him time. Let him work out his own problem. To assist 
too much here is to make him dependent, and weak in 
initiative. The learner's little problems are real and seri- 
ous to him. He is trying his best to accomplish some small 
purpose. It is an error to say the child first attends school 
and then enters upon life. From the point of view of the 
seriousness of his experience, there will be no particular 
distinction between the school and society at large. There 
are problems and answers and successes and failures along 
the entire course for him. It need not annoy the thought- 
ful teacher, then, if the child fails to Vork out the prob- 
lem in a so-called correct manner. He is arriving at a 
result that is his own and for that reason very valuable to 
him, even though some would call it error or failure. Then, 
incline rather to assist the young pupil to find his task or 
problem than to help him to accomplish it. Much of the 
actual necessary assistance may be given without his being 
aware of the fact. 

The Beginner. At the time of his first entering 



30 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

school, what do we find to be the mental condition of the 
normal, healthy child who has not attended the kinder- 
garten? His knowledge consists of a mass of unrelated 
fragments picked up incidentally in the home and about 
the streets or in the fields. It must be observed that the 
child's special senses are at this time very imperfectly 
developed and that his coordinations are very poor. That 
is, he cannot execute his physical movements in a manner 
that is at all definite or accurate. A common fault of the 
young teacher is the failure to recognize the fact that 
the education of the child at this early state rmist go on 
almost wholly through the development of the special 
senses, and that this development must he accomplished 
chiefly by means of physical acts made more and more 
definite through trial and error. 

As a result of the physical acts just mentioned there 
are gradually set up numerous structures and connections 
in the central nervous system, and these new forms tend to 
become permanent and to make conduct habitual and uncon- 
scious. Pause for a short time and think over a list of 
the many simple acts or movements that you execute almost 
unconsciously during the day, and then recall the fact that 
the little child not only has to learn to do all these things, 
but also, probably, is yet without the nerve structures that 
make them possible. 

The Central Nervous System. It being realized that 
in the process of his sense-training the child is really build- 
ing up and dififerentiating a system of nerves, let us observe 
a little more closely the details of the process. It is gen- 



THE F1R8T LESS0N8 21 

erally believed now that every new sense impression that 
the child receives actually changes the cellular structure of 
his nerves. If, when the mechanical apparatus is properly 
arranged, you pronounce distinctly before the recorder 
of a phonograph the word "elephant," the cylinder upon 
which the needle rests will receive a definite impression 
and later give back the exact word. This mechanical 
device represents fairly well the nature of the nervous 
system. It is plastic and impressionable and retentive. 
You pronounce for the child for the first time the word 
"elephant," and his brain cells receive and retain the impres- 
sion — a verbal memory. You now point out to him the 
living elephant and this time through the medium of the 
optic nerves his brain records a different impression — a 
visual memory. 

The other sense impressions are received similarly. Every 
kind of contact of objects with the nerves is carried over 
the proper neural tract to the brain and there stored up for 
future use in forms of cellular arrangement. But in order 
that the learning process may go on properly, one thing 
must be constantly observed by the teacher. On the side 
of the learner, the contacts of the sense organ with the outer 
world must be first-hand and direct. You cannot see, 
hear, taste, or smell for another and then tell him about 
it satisfactorily. Suppose you try the experiment of merely 
telling a child unfamiliar w^ith these matters how satin feels 
to the fingers, or how olives taste, or how heliotrope smells. 
Such a method of instruction would be utterly futile even 



32 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

with mature persons who are lacking in the foregoing sense 
experiences. 

Reaction. But when we say that the nervous system 
of the learner merely receives impressions as does inert 
matter, we are relating only half the story. The child 
always tejids to react in some way upon receiving such 
sensuous impressions. The mere infant's reactions are 
impulsive and undefined as indicated above. But the further 
the child advances the more definitely he can react. 

Let us be clear as to what is meant by a reaction. The 
nourishment taken by the infant, in being assimilated 
touches his nervous system through and through, resulting 
in his kicking and wriggling — pleasurable, impulsive reac- 
tion. His little stomach becomes entirely empty and he 
begins to cry and to work his mouth as if to nurse — reflex 
and instinctive reaction. I toss a ball to a five-year-old 
boy and say, "Throw it to me." He does so — a complex, 
purposive reaction. This last act not only is complex but 
also has a long-drawn-out history, a long series of simpler 
acts preceding and preparing for it. The meaning of the 
sound of my voice, of the sight of the ball, of the feeling 
of the ball in contact with the hand, of the feelings in the 
boy's arm and body while the ball is being thrown — all 
these have been acquired only after much experience 
through trial and error, and they now enter into this 
complex act. 

Let it be carefully noted here that when, for example, the 
child first attempts either to throw a ball or to pronounce 
a word, the impression made on his brain cells becomes a 



THE FIRST LESSONS 23 

memory image and that it aids the next effort more or less. 
Vou give him a pencil and ask him to draw a straight line. 
Only after much trial and error he succeeds fairly well. 
Each stroke, as it approaches more nearly the correct one, 
leaves a more nearly perfect memory impression of just 
what must go into this act of line-drawing. 

Brain-Building. No less an authority than President G. 
Stanley Hall brings out "the unmistakable evidence that 
muscle development and brain development go on together." 
This means that while the child exercises his arm in throw- 
ing a ball, concomitantly he constructs or multiplies the 
nerve cells in a definite portion of his brain ; and while the 
vocal organs are being exercised in speaking or singing, a 
corresponding brain center is being exercised and furnished 
with what is probably a more refined and more highly 
differentiated cellular tissue. 

The teacher should by all means consult some standard 
work on psychology such as James's, and observe carefully 
the illustrations of these localizations of functions. Every 
physical act has its own brain center. For example, the 
center of sight is in the occipital lobes and that for move- 
ments of the right hand and arm in the left upper 
convolutions, and so on. 

The School of Experience. In the light of this kind 
of explanation the old idea that the mind is a storehouse 
of knowledge takes on an entirely new- interpretation. It 
means that throughout the entire nervous system, and most 
particularly in the brain, there are made up manifold struc- 
tures and connections every one of which may enter into or 



24 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

make possible or modify some future mode of conduct. 
This explanation also suggests the particular nature of each 
separate act of the mind and body. Then, experience 
may or may not be a dear school, but it is certainly the only 
school wherein the young may learn. Breadth of learning 
means corresponding manifoldness of experience, and the 
converse is true also. 

There are implied here two reasons why the child's early 
education should range over the widest possible limits : ( i ) 
He thereby develops a full variety of nerve structures and 
connections, thus making possible the greatest facility of 
adjustment to the complex environment of mature life. 
Let us not become lost here in a maze of abstract words. 
To illustrate concretely, I mean just this: The boy who, 
when a child, has the experience of "speaking a piece" a 
few times before an audience will thereby secure the begin- 
nings of the nerve structures that will underlie and make 
possible some form of public speaking in future years. (2) 
Every child that is rightly developed continues for some 
years on a voyage of self-discovery. This wide range of 
childhood experience increases the likelihood of his coming 
upon his highest aptitude, the kind of work for which 
nature has fitted him best and in which he may, therefore, 
achieve the greatest results. 

What a pathetic and yet what a common experience it is 
to meet a man who has gone blundering on to his old age, 
and that possibly only because his childhood life was kept 
within too narrow limits ! 



REFERENCES 



1 King: Psychology of Child Development (University of Chicago 

Press) ; Ch. II, '•Primary Problems Eelating to the Child's 
Earliest Experience." A fundamental work. It should be 
studied. 

2 KiRKPATRiCK: Fitndamcn-tals of Child Study (Macmillan) ; Ch. V, 

"The Early Development of the Human Infant." A detailed 
account of a child's conscious development as indicated by its 
specific movements. 

II 

1 Thorndike: Educational Psychology (Lemcke & Beuchner, New 

York) ; Ch. V, "Original and Acquired Traits." A laboratory 
manual. 

2 Halleck: Education of the Central Nervous System (Macmil- 

lan) ; Ch. VII, "Special Sensory Training." Full of helpful 
suggestions. 

Ill 

1 Horns: Philosophy of Education (Macmillan); Ch. II, "The 

Biological Aspect of Education." A treatment that sets 
forth in a clear manner the modern evolutionary theory. 

2 Hall: Adolescence (Appleton) ; Vol. I, Ch. Ill, "Growth of 

Motor Power and Function." This is President Hall's great 
life work. The chapter cited is rich in information, sugges- 
tion, and inspiration. 



25 



CHAPTER III 

THE MEANING OF ERROR IN EDUCATION 

Every Error Recorded. It is evident that the nervous 
system, especially the brain, knows no such thing as error. 
That is, every so-called mistake in conduct is recorded just 
as faithfully as are the acts which are regarded as righteous. 
A child may mispronounce a word, or when older he may 
smoke his first cigarette. The nerves write these acts 
down as bits of experience and the impressions made tend 
to remain, ready for use in making out future conduct and 
in modifying future thinking. 

Errors or mistakes, then, are just as valuable as correct 
acts from the standpoint of enriching experience, and they 
are also desirable to the furthest possible extent to which 
they may be overcome and prevented from becoming a fixed 
mode of conduct. The character that has not known by 
much experience the meaning of reverses and failures which 
have been finally overcome is not fully prepared for 
complete living. 

A False View. A visit to the ordinary grade school- 
room will in many instances convince the close observer 
that the teacher has very little use or respect for error. The 
latter probably is observed endeavoring to conceal the fact 
that his pupils make any mistakes. Indeed, there is a 

26 



MEANING OF EEROE IN EDUCATION 37 

sentiment not uncommon among teachers that to make the 
most creditable showing before visitors the pupils must go 
through their recitations without a break or hesitation. In 
order to secure a "perfect" recitation on such an occasion, 
the teacher will often ask easy or leading questions, or 
take the class over some work prepared especially for the 
deception of visitors. 

But error ought to have a more respectable standing in 
the schoolroom than merely to be despised and rejected. It 
certainly does have a valid place in the educational process, 
but until this fact is realized by the teacher he will be 
working more or less in the dark. The child that never 
makes a mistake (if such thing be conceivable) is a monster 
incapable of learning. In accordance with the theory that 
the mistakes made by pupils ought to be and can be turned 
to good account, we shall consider a few statements with 
regard to the educational meaning of error. What teachers 
need to learn more perfectly is how to make proper use 
of the errors of their pupils. It is not worth while to try 
to cover up or obviate these mistakes, or to say they do 
not count. While it may not be worth so much, error is 
just as much a step in the process of learning as truth is, 
and to deny it such a place is fatal to the process. 

In logical processes it is often better to determine what 
a thing is not, before discovering what it is. One of the 
two possible consequences is shown to be false in order 
that the other may be proved true; or a false premise or 
statement is assumed as true in order to show the contra- 
dictions into which such assumptions will lead. Although 



28 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

this method belongs perhaps more particularly to logic and 
geometry, it has many an application in disguised form 
in all the grades of school work. Rather than simply 
declare a pupil's opinion or the answer he gives wrong, 
his conclusion should be taken as the basis of further 
deductions on his own part until he sees for himself where 
the process will lead to. 

In .^Esthetics and Ethics. In sesthetical interpreta- 
tion error has at least one important function. Whether 
the learner be developing an idea of the beautiful in things, 
in thought, or in conduct, the erroneous or the homely or 
the ugly will serve antithetically in disciplining the mind. 
Of course, it is the business of instruction to see that these 
undesirable antitheses are used somewhat sparingly, so that 
the learner's mind may not become imbued with them and 
the understanding of the higher forms thus hindered. A 
low and depraved aesthetic taste, when once acquired, is 
perhaps never fully eradicated. 

As an ethical discipline, error needs to be treated with 
the utmost care and conscientiousness. Wrongdoing seems 
to possess a great fascination for the young. The child's 
standards of right and wrong in early years are acquired 
largely through dogmatic instruction from his elders and 
consequently they are not his personal standards, and from 
his own point of view they have no validity. It seems 
necessary, therefore, that the child have some kind of 
influence exerted over him until he becomes conscious of 
the meaning of right and wrong in conduct. But the 
ethical problem, so far as formal instruction is concerned, 



MEANING OF ERROR IN EDUCATION 29 

naturally becomes one of psychology. Ethical conduct is 
not so much the outgrowth of mature reflection on the 
subject of right and wrong as it is the result of practice 
of right-doing. Some of the more general psychologic 
questions as regards error, are : What can be done with it ? 
How is it related to the self in the purposive progress that 
is being made? How can the most serious errors in general 
conduct be avoided? We shall now consider this last 
question briefly. 

Result of Bad Suggestion. It is apparent that errone- 
ous ways of performing tasks, and also many of the 
common forms of bad conduct, are often the result of 
unintentional bad suggestion. That is to say, the teacher 
or the parent makes so much of the objectionable act in 
warning against error, and so little of the desirable act 
in pointing out the better way, that the former becomes 
the more personal point of view to the child. The teacher 
says in substance, "Here is the pitfall. Examine it carefully 
so as to know how to avoid it." What happens then ? 
Instead of forming a resolution to avoid error as the teacher 
expects him to do, the child, being deeply absorbed in the 
subject, is unintentionally taken through a mental drill in 
the performance of the error. For example, a teacher 
once gave defiinite instruction in cigarette-smoking by com- 
pelling a boy who had been caught in the act of smoking, 
to roll, light and smoke a cigarette in the presence of a 
roomful of other pupils, in order to punish him and to 
teach the others the evil of the practice. 

What ought to be done in such cases is to picture the 



30 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

bright side of the conduct more vividly than the dark. One 
of the great factors in education is imitation. The child 
naturally follows that course which is presented to him 
most vividly. The methods of the old-time teacher in 
depicting so eloquently and minutely the sinner and his 
sins may have frightened the wrongdoer out of his wits 
temporarily, but the general result, no doubt, was to deepen 
in the minds of his hearers the inclination to sin. Whether 
in church or in school, the effects of such methods are ever 
the same, and directly opposite to those intended. While 
the child does, or ought to, find and solve his own problem, 
it is advised that there be a good deal of direction and 
supervision. He ought to be guided somewhat in the 
habituation of avoiding and overcoming error. A fixed 
mode of reacting in many of the more common situations 
is what is desired here, for thereby the child learns to 
achieve, to succeed rather than to fail. 

Emotional Value. One of the chief bearings of error 
on education is found in its emotional meaning. The child 
that learns must become sensitive on the subject of his mis- 
takes. It is not putting it strongly enough merely to say 
that he must become conscious of them. This sensitiveness 
ought to remain throughout the entire period of his instruc- 
tion, but of course it can be too intense. Let us try to 
make this matter a little more concrete. A pupil comes up 
at the recitation period without having sufficiently prepared 
his lesson, and fails. If properly sensitive, he experiences 
a pretty deep emotion of shame and embarrassment in 
some form. The blood flows more warmlv and the heart 



MEANING OF ERROR IN EDUCATION 31 

beats faster. In this way he is thoroughly punished for his 
short-comings. As a conseciucnce of this emotion, his 
thought processes are quickened and a determination to 
make amends for the error by more thorough work in the 
future is hkely to follow. As the child grows older the 
period of reflection following emotion becomes more valu- 
able. He soon learns to imagine himself in the act of over- 
coming past errors. In other words, he is acquiring 
valuable experience in the formation of ideals. 

Baldwin, in his "Development and Evolution," speaks of 
embarrassment under the general term of "social sensi- 
tiveness," or "sense of other selves." If this sensitiveness 
be preserved in form of habit, the individual gets the 
unquestioned benefit of emotional response. Emotionalism 
is a valuable aid to somewhat mature persons ; e. g., the 
young man beginning business. His blunders may be 
multiplied at first ; but, being so keenly alive to the situa- 
tion, he is soon enabled to bring about a better adjustment 
and a higher measure of success. An overthrow for such 
a young man is only a temporary affair. He is certain to 
turn this defeat into so much capital for a future investment. 

It has already been indicated that error has meaning for 
volition. There is real enjoyment in doing what one wills 
to do and in overcoming opposition and error. Every one 
takes a sort of domineering interest in that which is inferior 
to himself. The child is seen to toy with error. Recently 
the author was talking with a little three-year-old boy Avho 
was perfectlv familiar with both the dandelion and the 
clover blossoms at his feet, when the child exclaimed. 



33 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

"Look out ! Don't step on my dandi-clover !" So children 
often misspell and mispronounce words and imitate many 
other forms of error in a pure spirit of levity. The edu- 
cational value of this kind of practice is not to be ignored. 
In Volition. But in its more serious aspects, error 
is seen to have a still higher value for volitional develop- 
ment. In the very act of overcoming, there is a seeming 
accumulation of nerve and volitional energy. The con- 
sciousness of mastery is as pleasurable as the habit of 
mastery is strengthening. The pupil will show a tendency 
to profit by the errors seen in his inferiors and to be weak- 
ened by the bad examples of his superiors; but, if his 
education is in ideal course of development, his own errors 
will not merely become of use in the solution of succeeding 
problems ; they will contribute to his permanent strength of 
character — 

For men may rise on stepping-stones 
Of their dead selves to higher things. 

Function of the Teacher. Thus we see that error has 
a very significant place in the course of instruction. But 
let us add a word with reference to the specific function 
of the teacher in all this process. The teacher should 
actually aid the child in becoming aware of his errors. The 
consciousness of his own error is often more important 
to the child than is the answer to his problem. While the 
process is primarily one of finding out the truth, it is per- 
haps secondarily one of becoming conscious of the errors 
made in the course of the operation. We see too many 
instances of unconscious blundering through the course of 



MEANJNCi OF ERROR IN EDUCATION 33 

Study. In answer to the question as to how the teacher is 
to aid directly in this process, it might be suggested that 
the Socratic method is the best general rule of procedure. 
Let the pupil answer as he will. Then, base the next ques- 
tion on his answer, and so on with the next until some 
satisfactory conclusion is reached. Thus the child is led 
not merely to work out his own problem but to discover 
many a minor truth along the wa}' ; and, most important 
of all, he knows from actual experience hozv the conclusion 
is obtained. 

Now, compare in results the living method just outlined 
wath the one still used ignorantly by many teachers, namely, 
the method that admits of only one correct answer to every 
question, and in case of any deviation from this strict re- 
quirement submits the question to the next pupil, who is 
expected to give the one correct answer, and in so doing to 
cast unfavorable reflections upon the scholarship of the 
first one. The new, living method makes due allowance 
for spontaneity and the development of a .strong initiative 
on the part of the learner, and for his final recognition of 
the world as a mechanism. The old, cramping method 
leads the pupil to regard knowledge as a body of isolated 
facts, and himself as being to a large extent a creature 
of fate. 



REFERENCES 



1 King: Psychology of Child Development (University of Cliicago 
Press) ; Ch. VIII, "Differentiation of Mental Functions" ; 
Ch. IX, "Inhibition"; Ch. X, "Imitation." 

II 

1 Bagley: The Educational Process (Macmillan) ; Chapter entitled 
"The Transmission of Experience in the Concrete." 

Ill 

1 Baldwin: Mental Bevelopment in the Child and the Race (Mac- 

millan) ; Ch. X, "Conscious Imitation." 

2 EoYCE: Outlines of Psychology (Macmillan); Ch. XIII, "The 

Conditions of Mental Initiative." A fresh, vigorous treat- 
ment of the subject from the viewpoint of evolution, empha- 
sizing here inherited tendencies to action, and trial, and error. 



34 



CHAPTER IV 

PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER 

Present Conditions. If time and the remuneration for 
teaching would warrant it, an ideal course for the common- 
school teacher might well include instruction in ( i ) the 
common grades, (2) manual training, (3) high school, 
(4) college, (5) normal school. These would he taken 
in the order named. But under present conditions so 
extensive a course of preparation for common-school teach- 
ers is out of the question. Salaries are too low and the 
tenure of office too brief.* Doubtless a statistical inquiry 
would show that a large majority of such instructors in the 
United States have advanced little beyond the common- 
school course. It is encouraging to note, however, that 
both teachers' wages and the standard of requirement for 
certification are gradually being raised. 

A Practical Problem. Common-school teaching in the 
United States has become almost exclusively the business 
of women. This is both natural and desirable. The peculiar 
mental endowments of woman are such as to render her 
more afifectionate, patient, and forbearing in instructing 
the young. No man ought ever to apply for a position as 
teacher in the primary grades. But there is a serious prob- 

*See the preface to this book. 

35 



36 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

lem here. Every normal, healthy young woman desires in- 
stinctively to marry and become the mother of children. 
Modern requirements as to age and scholarship will admit 
of her beginning the work of teaching little younger than 
twenty years of age. She is also at this age eligible for 
marriage. What, now, is she to do? Her private decision 
doubtless is, marry if she can, but teach if she must. 

If one will look over an audience of women teachers 
almost anywhere west of New England and outside of our 
large cities, he will easily observe a great preponderance 
of girls and comparatively young women. The majority of 
these will marry and quit the profession within a very few 
years. The author addressed a teachers' institute number- 
ing more than one hundred at times exactly two years 
apart. Only a score of those present on the second occa- 
sion had been members of the institute two years previ- 
ously. So, it might be said, we have the strange anomaly 
of a vast and important business being carried on by a class 
of persons who are really preparing for another vocation 
which, if anything, is more important. Nevertheless, it can 
be shown that our American schools are, as a rule, exceed- 
ingly well taught and that there is in them more room for 
spontaneity and the bringing out of native resources than 
there is in the schools of older countries where there is so 
much close organization. 

A Weak Spot. One of the most lamentable short- 
comings of public-school teachers is the lack of interest in 
current events. The narrow-mindedness that sometimes 
results from this lack is pathetic. Gradually the train of 



PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER 37 

ideas becomes unalterably fixed upon the little routine of 
schoolroom affairs, until the mentally impoverished victim 
can talk of nothing else, even during vacation. In such 
cases, relief can be obtained only by vigorous measures. 
Here is a prescription : ( i ) Let the teacher force himself 
daily for a half-hour — or more, if possible — to the perusal 
of a good daily paper. This practice, strange to say, may 
be interesting at first, but in time any ordinary teacher will 
feel it to be a necessity. One who reads his daily paper 
regularly develops a craving for it analogous to that for 
daily food. (2) Subscribe for and read carefully a first- 
class monthly magazine — one that contains a variety of 
matter, but particularly able discussions of the great world- 
movements. 

The author is desirous of emphasizing this matter even 
to the point of repetition. When one observes hundreds of 
teachers poring over their professional magazines for sub- 
jects that are already too much on their minds, or running 
off somewhere to take a review course in these same 
branches of study, he feels like calling an emphatic halt, 
and saying to all such: Stop this procedure at once and 
take a course leading to an acquaintance with current 
matters! Your progress as a teacher is doomed unless 
by this kind of course you can come into touch with the 
living, vitalizing world of affairs. The subjects you are 
teaching will by this means become quickened into new 
meaning and new life. Boards of education and examining 
committees everywhere are too prone to lead teachers into 
the narrow ruts herein described, by their methods of con- 



38 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

ducting examinations. Why cannot there be less testing of 
the memory concerning dead facts and more testing of the 
teacher's understanding of fundamental principles and his 
power to interpret living truths? 

Too Much Review. A middle-aged district-school 
teacher boasts that for twelve years he has not missed 
attending the annual four-weeks' session of the teachers' 
institute. This teacher is faithful and honest and almost 
too good and innocent. He also carries a certificate show- 
ing grades of ninety per cent or above in all branches. But 
there is something the matter with him and his case is 
serious. He is a cyclopaedia of information and a zero on 
interpretation. He has reviewed himself to death. After 
attending three institutes he ought to have set out on a 
vigorous course of more advanced study either in vacation 
school or out. It may seem a radical view, but the author 
believes that the teacher who attends more than three suc- 
cessive teachers' institutes is already showing evidences of 
mental deterioration. Do not misunderstand me. The 
instruction in the average institute is good of the kind. By 
all means let the teacher attend two or three of them, and 
then go higher. 

The Source of Power. The secret of power and effi- 
ciency in understanding and teaching lies in the pursuit of 
subjects of a higher nature and often only remotely related 
to the branches to be taught. Would you prepare to teach 
United States history well? Then after reviewing the sub- 
ject once or twice, take a full course of reading in general 
history and in current events, as advised above, and in 



PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER 39 

civics. Such a course of preparation is worth ten times the 
same amount of time devoted to the study of various texts 
in United States history. Would you become proficient in 
arithmetic? Then study with it the principles of algebra 
and geomctr}- and get into the closest possible relations with 
business affairs. Would you become master of English 
grammar? Then take an extended course in Latin and, if 
possible, in another foreign language or two. So with the 
other subjects. Study all around them and beyond them 
if you would know them and teach them well. 

An Abomination. There is an abomination being 
practiced upon the teachers of this country which it is 
hoped the\- will in time have the courage to rise up and 
condemn. This is the practice of certain examining com- 
mittees of notifying teachers that 'Tn the next examination 
forty per cent of the questions will be based upon Dr. 
Goody Goody's 'Rules of Teaching.' " Very often back 
of this thing there is a designing scheme whereby thousands 
of teachers are forced to buy and study a very inferior book 
while they might be pursuing some studies that are really 
worth while. Teachers and reading-circle committees, ap- 
pointed to select these prescribed (better proscribed) books 
usually act innocently and in good faith, but they are fre- 
quently under the shrewd management of high-salaried 
book lobbyists. At any rate, why cannot there be selected 
by these committees only such books as will be enticing 
and profitable reading to teachers and such as will sell on 
their own intrinsic merits? 

Thought Germination, What shall be done to develop 



40 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

more resourcefulness in ideas? A half-hour's conversation 
with the teacher who confines his time for study exclusively 
to poring over dry text-books will reveal the fact that he 
is weak in thought associations. Introduce almost any topic 
of conversation not related to his schoolroom routine and he 
probably will close the discussion at once with a dry, mean- 
ingless remark. What is the matter? The topic is too 
strange and foreign to him. 

Now the able instructor must be spontaneous and re- 
sourceful in ideas, as well as in words to express them. 
He must read not merely text-books but a little of every- 
thing, selecting carefully, of course. Novel-reading with 
some becomes a craze, an overmastering habit, but many 
teachers err on the other side. There had better be in- 
cluded at least a score of standard works of fiction in the 
young teacher's reading-course. All this may seem foreign 
to the subject of this chapter, but certainly it is not. If you 
would break away from slavish adherence to dry questions 
and answers in the text-books and from the more servile 
and cramping method of discussing lessons by means of 
memorized portions of the text (as many do), if you would 
cause the seemingly dead, inert subject-matter of the or- 
dinary recitation to kindle into a flame of living fire, then 
develop and enrich your own soul by wide reading and 
thinking and experiencing. During the course of an aver- 
age day you are likely to be called upon for a thousand 
ideas that through suggestion will stimulate youthful 
thought and activity. Woe unto you if you cannot furnish 
them! 



PEEPAEATION OF THE TEACHEE 41 

A suggestive course of reading will be given at the close 
of the chapter. 

District-School Teaching. In the author's opinion the 
best practice work for young teachers comes from the 
district school ; for there the interests are so manifold and 
the demands upon the teacher's resources so varied that 
his development is both rapid and wide. One or two terms 
in such a position will aid one in finding both his strong 
points and his weak ones in teaching and will indicate to 
him more definitely the field of his specialty. A false esti- 
mate of their own worth and dignity leads many young, 
inexperienced college graduates to scorn the work of coun- 
try-school teaching and to seek a more dignified beginning 
in some good high school. By this means much of the 
solid foundation for teaching is omitted. Go among the 
ranks of men and women of greatest power and efficiency 
in the schoolroom and find, if you will, that the majority 
of them served an apprenticeship in the rural district. So, 
the well-prepared teacher who acquires his first experience 
in the district school may seem to be losing ground for a 
time and the salary may be entirely incommensurate with 
the sum invested in the education, but in the course of a 
few years the loss will doubtless be more than made up, both 
pecuniarily and otherwise. 

Good Expression. In order to carry on the work 
most effectively the teacher needs to cultivate assiduously 
his powers of oral expression. "I know^ it but cannot tell 
it," is too often the confessed weakness. Beware of cant 
phrases and platitudes and. above all, aft'ectation of voice. 



42 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHINC^ 

but use every opportunity in school and out to develop a 
good conversational style, one that is free from slang and 
cheap babble. The reticence somewhat common to young 
teachers may be overcome only by practice. Good language 
forms are acquired almost entirely by imitation of expres- 
sions read, heard, or thought out in private. So let the 
student of oral expression tarry much with such able 
authors as Irving, Lowell, and Kipling, and let him acquire 
the habit of framing his thoughts in full sentences. This 
is in reality talking to oneself mentally, a helpful exercise. 
In addition to these matters, the teacher must strive dili- 
gently to develop a well-modulated voice with clear, distinct 
articulation and forcible enunciation. 

The Normal Course. It is apparent to the close 
observer that much good teaching material is spoiled by 
too early or too much normal training. The country is 
swarming with young teachers who go about with a big 
notebook of set rules for doing or teaching this or that, as 
if everything in the schoolroom could be done by rote. It 
requires years for some of these persons to get over this 
overdose of methodogy, and there is occasionally one who 
never recovers. Now it is far from the intention here to 
depreciate the great value of normal schools, but when 
the study of methods of teaching is allowed to precede in 
importance study of the collateral branches of the common- 
school curriculum the deplorable condition cited above is 
likely to follow. To be specific, this undesirable condition 
seems to come about in this way : The would-be teacher 
puts in a year reviewing the common branches and learning 



PEEPARATION OF THE TEACHEE 43 

methods of teaching these branches. Now, the knowledge 
of these subjects is so isolated, and the thinking about 
them from the nature of the case so unrelated to tho broader 
fields of thought and living, that the young teacher naturally 
falls into the vicious practice of cramming the memory with 
a mass of rules, dates, dead facts, and the like, instead of 
viewing the subject of study as an ever living, developing 
one. The "Rules for Teaching" will be memorized in pretty 
much the same way ; whereas, they ought to be regarded as 
only suggestive or something to be assimilated during the 
course of one's actual practice in teaching. 

For these reasons and others that might be given, it is 
strongly urged that the extensive and the intensive study 
of methods of teaching be not taken up until the teacher 
becomes well advanced in the course. A good high-school 
training is suggested as a fair prerequisite in the teacher, 
while a collegiate course would naturally be of still greater 
value to him. When one has had collegiate training he will 
have acquired some idea of the scientific method of study 
and investigation. To him every subject pursued must 
have a functional or a developing aspect rather than a 
merely structural one. And best and most essential of all. 
he will have received that flood of light and inspiration that 
can come to the teacher only through acquaintance with a 
wide range of subjects that are collateral to and higher than 
the special lesson that is being taught. 

Then, why not make the review of the common branches 
either precede the model school work and -^he study of 
methods, or make this review merely incidental and give 



44 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

the time to geometry, Latin, general history, and still higher 
branches of learning? Any teacher who is worthy of his 
vocation can review the common branches at home after 
the high school or college course and the work in theory 
have been completed. The theory, however, if taken com- 
paratively late will have some meaning other than a lot of 
rules to be memorized. 

Summer Schools. One of the greatest advantages 
offered to teachers to-day is that of the summer schools. 
Such institutions are now well distributed throughout the 
country. The young teacher who invests his first savings 
in a course at one of these thereby indicates his best pro- 
fessional spirit and gives promise of progress in the future. 
He will not be satisfied with attending a mediocre school 
near by, but will prefer to go to a distant one, and one of 
highest standing, where there is opportunity of coming 
into a new environment. The term's course of study, if 
ideal, will combine study and recreation and sight-seeing 
in about equal proportions. The subjects pursued will con- 
tain some work that is entirely new to the attendant and in 
advance of the subjects to be taught by him. No available 
opportunity to hear eminent speakers and lecturers will be 
lost. Best of all, the teacher will come back to his work 
in the fall with new intellectual acumen and new soul life 
and a new zest for his work. It is earnestly urged that 
superintendents and boards of education place a premium 
upon the attendance of first-class summer schools by teach- 
ers. A slight advance in salary and expressions of hearty 



PEEPARATION OF THE TEACHER 45 

approval in published reports are suggested as very suitable 
rewards of merit in such instances. 

A Course in Reading. And now, at the close of this 
chapter, there is offered a course in reading for young 
teachers. Inquiry into the matter has led the author to be- 
lieve that there are thousands of these young beginners who 
are more than willing to take up a course, but who need 
some specific guidance in the matter. All so-called profes- 
sional books are omitted from the list with the thought that 
such texts will be urged or forced upon the teacher's atten- 
tion by the school authorities. This list is merely sug- 
gestive. There are, doubtless, many experienced teachers 
who have read all these books and many more of like 
nature. They will pardon any seeming presumption upon 
their ignorance.* 

In reference to reading, Superintendent J. M. Green- 
wood, of Kansas City, Missouri, has this to say in The 
Educational Reviezv for November, 1907: "If I have 
gleaned a single bit of sound educational information from 
an investigation of the lives of men, whether living or dead, 
it is that concentration of thought, intensity of investigation, 
thinking carefully and patiently over what one reads as he 
reads it, or stopping to master it and making it his own, 
is the only kind of reading that is of any permanent 
value. . . . It is not so much reading, but well chosen, 
solid, substantial reading, that builds up the character into 
manhood and womanhood. Fifty or a hundred good books 

* These works may all be obtained through the publishers of this book, 
in any form of binding desired. 



46 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

well chosen, if read and mastered and assimilated, will give 
one far greater power and versatility than thousands of 
surface, scrappy, mediocre books. The 'scatteration' theory 
has taken such a hold now upon many of our educational 
writers, that one can get, in reading most of the late books, 
only a rehash of what the author has gathered from various 
sources, and at the close of each chapter, or at the close 
of the volume, a bibliography that is absolutely over- 
powering." 

A COUKSE IN BEADING 

NON-PEOFESSIONAL, FOE YOUNG TEACHERS 

A 

1 Felix Abler: Life and Destiny; McClure, Phillips & Co., New 

York. 

2 E. W. Trine: In Tune with the Infinite; T. Y. Crowell & Co., 

New York. 

3 Henry Wood: Life More Abundant; Lothrop, Lee, Shepherd & 

Co., Boston. 

4 Geo. E. Peck: The Kingdom of Light; G. P. Putnam's Sons, 

New York. 

5 H. W. Dresser: Education and the Philosophic Ideal; G. P. 

Putnam's Sons, New York. 

B 

1 Halleck: Psychology and Psychic Culture; American Book Co., 

Chicago. 

2 King: Psychology of Child Development; University of Chicago 

Press, Chicago. 

3 Butler: The Meaning of Education; The Macmillan Co., New 

York. 

4 Hugo: Les Miserahles; Vol. II, Pt. II. The story of Jean Val- 

jean; T. Y. Crowell & Co., New York. 

5 Jacob Ens: How the Other Half Lives; Chas. Scribner's Sons, 

New York. 



PEEPABATION OF THE TEACHER 47 

C 

1 James: Euman Immortality ; Houghton, Mififlin & Co., Boston. 

2 John Fiske: Life Everlasting ; Houghton, Miffliu & Co., Boston. 

3 Coe: The Eeligion of a Mature Mind; Fleming H. Revel & Co., 

New York. 

4 James: The Will to Believe; Longmans, Green & Co., New York. 

5 Clark: Ten Great Beligions; Houghton, Miflain & Co., Boston. 

D 

1 Hyde: Practical Ethics; Henry Holt & Co., Chicago. 

2 J. P. Altgelt: Something for Nothing; Hammersmark Pub. Co., 

Chicago. 

3 L. R. Briggs: School, College and Character; Houghton, Mifflin 

& Co., Boston. 

4 Pajlmer: The Nature of Goodness; Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 

Boston. 

5 Royce: Studies in Good and Evil; D. Appleton & Co., New York. 

E 

1 Riley: Neigh'borly Poems; Chas. Scribrier's Sons, New York. 

2 Helen Hunt Jackson: Poems; Roberts Brothers, Boston. 

3 Kipling: First Jungle Boole; The Century Co., New York. 

4 Walt Whitman: Selections frovx; by O. L. Triggs; Small, May- 

nard & Co., New York. 

5 Broavning: Shorter Poems: The Macmillan Co,, New York. 



1 Conn: The Method of Evolution; G. P. Putnam's Sons, Now 

York. 

2 Fiske: Through Nature to God; Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. 

3 Bosenquet: The Family; The Macmillan Co., New York. 

4 Darwin: The Origin of Species; D. Appleton & Co., New York. 

5 Baldwin: Development and Evolution; The Macmillan Co., New 

York. 

This short course in reading is intended to awaken the 
consciousness of the young teacher and to give him some- 
thing of the habit of reflection. The chief admonition here 



48 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

is to read little and think much. Read first all the books 
under A, in their order, and then take up those under B, 
and so on. Do not skim over the subject-matter merely to 
get through, but proceed slowly, reflecting upon the mean- 
ings of human life as suggested by the pages read. You 
will thus develop your personality and take on more and 
more the characteristics of the real teacher. 

It is understood, of course, that this list of references is 
to supplement, and not to supplant, the ordinary profes- 
sional and current reading of the teacher, 



REFERENCES 



1 James: Talks to Teachers (Holt); Ch. I, "Psychology and the 

Teaching Art." Professor James is always instructive and 
entertaining. 

2 White. The Art of Teaching (American Book Co.) ; p. 105, "The 

Teacher's Preparation." This book is full of helpful sugges- 
tions for the young teacher. 

II 

1 King: Personal and Ideal Elements in Education (University of 

Chicago Press) ; pp. 236-266, "How to Make a Rational Fight 
for Character." 

2 Putnam: A Manual of Pedagogics (Silver-Burdett) ; Ch. XII, 

"Personality in the Teacher."' Cites and describes a number 
of great teachers. 

Ill 

1 McMuRRY: Method of the Becitation (Public School Pub. Co., 

Bloomington, Ills.) ; Ch. X, "Socrates' Method of Teaching." 
So much is said nowadays about the "Socratic Method"' that 
it behooves every young teacher to read such a reference as 
this carefully. The text is taken from Xenophon's Memo- 
rabilia. 

2 Sabin : Common Sense Didactics (Eand, McNally) ; Ch. Ill, ' ' The 

Preparation for Teaching." The young teacher should read 
this book through. It is intended to impart courage and 
inspiration for the work of the schoolroom. 



49 



CHAPTER V 

PSYCHOLOaiC PRINCIPLES 

The Steps in Detail. It seems absolutely necessary that 
the teacher become able to observe the detailed steps in 
the act of learning. He must go to the child himself in 
order to make his observations. Very recent experimenta- 
tion in psychology makes the necessity of so doing more 
than ever apparent. Scientific tests and computations tend 
to show that the brain is a much more highly speciaHzed 
organism than eminent educators have been inclined to be- 
lieve it. Coordinated with practically every acquired mental 
or physical activity or aptitude there seems to be a special 
group of nerve cells. These nerve-cell groups are built in 
and rearranged, seemingly while the knowledge is being 
acquired. 

But there is another important lesson to be learned by 
the student of education. Stated in homely phrase it is this : 
An aptitude or ability for one particular kind of act does not 
assist much in the performance of another. This would 
mean that the pupil who reads well does not necessarily 
spell well; or that one that is quick at perceiving foliage 
forms may not excel at all in distinguishing shades of dif- 
ference in sounds, or that the youth who is skillful with the 
axe cannot make much use of this skill in learning to wield 

50 



PSYCHOLOGIC PEINCIPLES 51 

either the pen or the scythe. There comes into the school 
a thirteen-year-old boy who is a champion shot with the 
rifle. Nevertheless he will find it necessary to acquire the 
art of drawing precisely as other pupils do, by means of 
persistent practice. A new set of nerves and muscles must 
be brought into use. 

Higher Distinctions. There is often made the mis- 
take of designating as unusually bright certain pupils who 
are quick at acquiring two or three of the ordinary school- 
room subjects, such as reading, spelling, and numbers. 
Now comes your dull boy, your blockhead. He stammers 
and stutters in trying to read and his computations in 
arithmetic come out at nowhere so far as exact results are 
concerned. But it is suggested that you test him in that 
wider field of "knowledge never learned of schools" and see 
if he does not very likely outclass the bright pupils them- 
selves. For instance inquire of him — 

Of the wild bee's morning chase, 
Of the wild flower's time and place, 
Flight of fowl, and habitude 
Of the tenants of the wood; 
How the tortoise bears his shell. 
How the woodchuek builds his cell, 
How the oriole's nest is hung, 
How the robin feeds her young. 
Where the whitest lilies blow, 
Where the freshest berries grow. 

The object here is not merely to call the attention of the 
teacher to the bright side of this dull pupil but to urge the 
former to observe how the latter comes by so much accurate 
information. 



52 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

How Perception Goes On. It is evident that in 
becoming acquainted with objects both material and non- 
material the child's first perceptions are of single, simple 
wholes. It is a waste of time to point to a complex object 
and urge the child to see it, and worse than foolish to 
threaten him with punishment if he does not fix his attention 
upon it. Specific parts of the object must first be pointed 
out, one at a time, and, if possible, their relations to other 
parts shown. After this lesson the child will probably be 
able to see thus far undirected. Another way, and an ex- 
cellent one, is to give him the object and let him discover 
some of its meanings for himself. After this he may have 
further meanings brought to his attention. The same de- 
tailed method would be necessary with complex sounds. 
The component parts simply must be heard singly and 
clearly before they can be recognized in the compound. 

The lesson here is, after all, a very simple one, even if it 
is so important. It is necessary only to remember that 
the child is acquiring his knowledge of the world of fact 
bit by bit through sensuous contact with things and that as 
these end-organ stimulations are going on in the ears, the 
eyes, the nose, the mouth and the skin surfaces there is 
being constructed or arranged at the inner termini of the 
nerves affected an equal number of peculiar groupings 
among the four hundred millions of brain cells. 

Imagination in Teaching. Now, as the child's nerv- 
ous organism is very plastic, it readily retains these sense 
impressions and gives them back in the form of images. 
Imagination has been defined as the act of being aware of 



PSYCHOLOGIC PRINCH'LKS 53 

things not present to the senses. To illustrate : A boy has 
often seen his little wagon, and he can now see it without its 
being present before him — a visual image. He has often 
heard the robin-song and can now think of the song without 
hearing it — an auditory image. So with taste, smell and 
touch images. The imagination functions in two ways: 
(i) It brings back faint copies of previous perceptions just 
as they were, the so-called reproductive imagination being 
thus exemplified. (2) It takes bits of past experience and 
puts them together in new forms or combinations. This is 
constructive imagination, out of the practice of which the 
inventive type of mind grows. 

At this point there are two important matters to be ob- 
served. First, the reproductive imagination will be clear 
only in proportion as the original perceptions were clear. 
Secondly, both kinds of imagination should have compara- 
tively free activity. It is a valuable exercise to have the 
child shut his eyes and "look," also for the instructor to dis- 
continue a certain sound and have him "listen" for it ; or 
to withdraw the object touched and have him "feel" it. 
There will be a time during w'hich his imagination will be 
rather over active, but by bringing him back frequently to 
solid matter-of-fact this tendency may be corrected. 

The inventive imagination must have much time and 
occasion for development. The modern tendency is to give 
the child too many ready-made and highly finished instru- 
ments of work and play, so that there is little necessity for 
invention. This is a serious pedagogic error, which is 
analogous to giving too much highly seasoned food. It is 



54 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

really pathetic to see heaped up around the over-indulged 
child scores of expensive playthings, and the poor, pam- 
pered little creature sick of them all. Strange to say, that 
other little boy, born and bred in poverty and forced by cir- 
cumstances to construct his own playthings out of crude, 
raw materials, will often outclass his more favored rival in 
matters of original invention and construction. Can the 
reader not see that the child that has merely rag bundles for 
dolls and ordinary corncobs for cattle and popcorn-cobs for 
sheep, is really acquiring not merely an active imagination 
but also the first steps in that important symbolism which 
must later support him in his higher generalizations ? Then, 
turn the child loose among the materials and let him work 
out his own salvation with the aid of very little directing. 

Memory. There is among teachers much misunder- 
standing in regard to the psychology of memory. It is 
therefore advised that there be made a careful study of this 
subject as treated by some good, standard work on psychol- 
ogy. James and Angell are recommended. 

It must be observed first of all that the seat of memory 
lies somewhere in the nerves. There is retained by them 
some kind of impression of the things to be remembered 
and this impression communicates itself to consciousness 
under suitable conditions. People's nerves seem to vary in 
plasticity or impressionableness. This alone makes a differ- 
ence in memories. The ideal case, it seems, would be a 
nerve structure that would yield to sense impressions with 
considerable resistance, so that it would retain them better. 
In a physical sense, we might say, then, that the problem of 



PSYCHOLOGIC PRINCIPLES 66 

memory is threefold : ( i ) To convey the impressions to 
tlie central nervous system; (2) to interpret them and retain 
them there; (3) to make use of them as remembered facts 
when they are needed. 

Making Impressions. A six-year-old boy is in bed, 
sound asleep. I say something to him in a clear tone of 
voice. The sound waves doubtless strike upon the termini 
of his auditory nerves just as though he were wide-awake; 
but for some cause or other the impression never reaches 
the brain in such a manner as to permit of recalling. If 
the boy chances to be only half-awake — a somewhat com- 
mon physical condition in the schoolroom — then the im- 
pression is doubtless only half-made and the memory is 
poor. So it seems that there must be an active, alert 
condition of consciousness. Furthermore, it will be ad- 
mitted without argument that the consciousness must be 
directed to the thing to be remembered. That is, there 
must be an active sort of attention. The boy must be wide- 
awake. The old label on the bottle, "Shake before using," 
might, wath slight variation, apply literally to him. 

The Old Question of Attention. I give a hungry boy 
a big, red, juicy apple and then seize my pointer quickly and 
dance around him, gesticulating and speaking to him ener- 
getically and reminding him in indirect ways of various 
kinds of punishment that might be inflicted. ''Why all this 
foolishness?" you ask. "To hold the boy's attention on the 
work he is undertaking," I reply. iNIy conduct certainly 
would be useless, but it would not be very unlike that often 
seen in the school. As a matter of fact, the bov needs 



56 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

simply to be let alone. There is such close affinity between 
him and the big red apple that his attention to the task of 
devouring it is perfect. 

This apple story gives something of a clue to the problem 
of attention. The task or lesson to be undertaken must, if 
possible, have just such vital relationship to the boy as the 
red apple has. It must be his own task. His very nature 
must call out emphatically for the object of attention. He 
must be hungry for it ; that is, have a personal interest in it. 
A natural interest will develop most satisfactorily under 
circumstances that favor the child's spontaneity of action. 
It lessens his interest to do too much for him. Let him do 
as much as possible for himself, so that he may continue 
to define his own experience, and the interest will be natural. 
Forced attention is at best divided attention. 

Again, freedom of attention and resulting goodness of 
memory are vitally connected with general bodily well- 
being. The dull stupor that comes frequently to pupils in 
crowded schoolrooms renders clear perception and, hence, 
close attention and good memory impossible. The blood, 
not being well purified, carries poisonous matter back to the 
brain, whither it ought to be carrying rich, red corpuscles. 
Strengthen the memory, then, or at least render it more 
efficient, by admitting a larger supply of fresh air into the 
room. If the weather will at all admit of it, have every 
pupil pass out-of-doors during the play period and air out 
the room thoroughly — for the sake of the memory. Some- 
times it is advisable even between intermission periods to 
stop everything for five minutes, throw the windows all 



PSYCHOLOGIC PRINCIPLES 57 

open, and have all the pupils march on double time around 
the room — merely in the interest of a quicker heart-beat, a 
healthier blood-circulation, and a better memory. 

The Nerves Remember. It must be borne in mind 
that the nerves really do the remembering and that the 
impressions become fixed and permanent through repetition. 
Some years have passed since the author has ridden horse- 
back, but his nerves remember the act from long repetition 
and he could easily ride again. The same might be true of 
reciting "Marco Bozzaris" or translating Vergil. A little 
practice would renew the old nerve impressions. The futility 
of trying to force the memory ought now to be more ap- 
parent. Stress and strain often seem to benumb the asso- 
ciative centers. It is said that all learning when complete 
must assume the form of habit, whereupon it manifests 
itself in readiness of mental or physical activity. Now, 
these habits will be developed best if the education is carried 
on in an orderly, systematic manner. One of the chief 
characteristics of habit is that it is regular or periodic in 
its times of highest activity. Then, see that the work of 
the school day is so mapped out that order and system may 
prevail throughout. 

Retaining Impressions. Nothing further than what 
has been implied can here be said under this heading except 
that the general retentiveness of the memory cannot, seem- 
ingly, be improved. Its improvement would really mean 
a change in the natural plasticity of the nerves. Repetition, 
however, of each special act will make the impressions deeper 
and more definite and lasting in that particular case. 



58 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

Recalling Impressions, the Logical Memory. Facts 
and experiences are recalled most easily and naturally 
after they have been associated with the greatest possible 
number of other facts and experiences. According to a 
widely accepted theory the memory centers in the brain are 
formed of a network of paths of excitation. Now, if the 
path made in learning fact A be crossed by the paths formed 
in learning a dozen similar facts, the memory of fact A is 
likely to call up the memory of any one of the others, and 
vice versa. The economic value of this logical form of 
memory is at once apparent. Instead of an effort to hold 
in remembrance by sheer force each and every separate fact, 
there is one to retain the central fact alone, and by means of 
this logical arrangement any of the others is naturally 
brought into recognition when desired. The central fact 
might be of such nature as an event in history, or a rule or 
principle in mathematics. 

The teacher who understands that education is a develop- 
ing rather than a cramming process will be somewhat slow 
in reducing the lessons to be mastered to fixed rules and 
definitions. It is the very nature of a rule or a brief defini- 
tion to imply that there is nothing more to be learned or said 
on the subject. It tends to close the mind to discussion 
and further inquiry. A certain youth had learned in the 
language class that "An adverb is a word that answers the 
question 'how.' " That settled it for him for some years, 
during which time his mind was closed on the subject. 

Thinking. All that has been said about clearness of 
perception, retentiveness of memory, and the like, very 



PSYCHOLOGIC PRINCIPLES 59 

naturally furnishes a substantial foundation for a mental act 
characteristic of fuller maturity, viz., reasoning. It is 
impossible to draw a line between the various important 
mental activities. They shade into one another. But 
thinking, strictly speaking, means mental effort whereby 
one is trying to arrive at some end or conclusion. This sort 
of thinking is hard work and it fatigues the organism just 
as physical labor does, only in different parts. It is not 
necessary to give a full analysis of logical reasoning here, 
but it is strongly urged that the teacher give pupils time 
to think. He can do so by assigning fewer tasks or prob- 
lems and thus allowing more time for each. The exercise 
in reasoning can also be aided by skillful use of the Socratic 
method of teaching, and by the frequent practice of ar- 
ranging the problems so that the pupil will have to think 
his way out, so to speak. 

The power and the habit of sober reflection are rare 
qualities among men and women of to-day. Too much im- 
patience and haste during schooldays are partly accountable 
for this lack. Let us mature our boys and girls a little more 
slowly and thereby contribute more to their stability of 
character and poise of intellect. W'e need a greater number 
of the reflective type of personality and more of the even 
but optimistic temperament. 

Imitation. A very important phase of all education 
is imitation. This is almost exclusively the law of language- 
learning. Deaf children usually have perfect vocal organs, 
but, not being able to hear another's voice, they have no 
copies to imitate. The successful teacher must make a 



60 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

personal study of the child's efforts at imitation. The child 
is always trying to make a true copy of what he sees or 
hears, or sees done, but his blunders are, at first, the most 
prominent features of his efforts. Now, why does he 
blunder? (i) Because his image of the object or act is a 
very imperfect one, since his experience at this point is but 
a little above zero. (2) He has not yet gained control of 
the muscles necessary for use in this case; neither can he 
inhibit the ones that interfere. The effort may be to walk 
across the room, to pronounce a new word, to draw a simple 
object, or to finger a piano keyboard. In every such case 
the two factors just named are prominent. 

Enough has already been written in discussion of percep- 
tion and imagination to give needed suggestions on the 
first point. The true copy, or correct image, can be secured 
only through the perceiving experience oft repeated. Inhi- 
bition also is the result of experience. Which muscles to 
use and which to keep from acting is a very complex prob- 
lem for the child. It is urged that students of human nature 
look sharply at the child in action and notice that in trying 
to perform almost any little simple movement he constantly 
exerts too much energy or else scatters his forces, or both. 
Grimaces, contortions of the left hand and the toes, writh- 
ings of the body, and the like, will probably accompany 
simple movements that in time will be performed solely with 
his right hand. 

Conclusion. This chapter is intended merely as a 
brief outline of some of the psychological principles under- 
lying scientific method in education. It is on account of its 



PSYCHOLOGIC PRINCIPLES 61 

brevity, too abstract, but the present plan is to give the 
subject-matter here sketched many concrete illustrations in 
the discussions of the several specific branches of study, 
to follow. For a fuller treatment of these important psycho- 
logic subjects the reader is referred to the author's "Pey- 
chology and Higher Life," published by Crane & Co., 
Topeka, Kansas, and the standard texts mentioned above. 



REFERENCES 



1 EoAEK: Psychology in Education (American Book Co.); Ch, V, 

"Conditions of Mental Activity." Treats chiefly of attention 
and habit. 

2 De Garmo: Interest in Education (Macmillan) ; Chs. X to XII. 

the various phases of interest. 

3 King: Psychology of Child Development (University of Chicago 

Press) ; Chs. XII and XIII, on theory and development of 
interest. 

II 

1 Haeris: Psychological Foundations of Education (Appleton) ; 

Ch. I, "What Is Meant by Educational Psychology"; Ch. Ill, 
"What Is Self -Activity?" 

2 HoBNE: The Psychologic Principles of Education (Macmillan); 

Chs. VII, VIII, IX. A very good discussion of the awaken- 
ing of consciousness, and of perception and apperception. 

Ill 

1 Butler: The Meaning of Education (Macmillan); lecture en- 

titled "Is There a New Education?" 

2 Dexter and Garlick: Psychology in the School Boom (Long- 

mans, Green) ; "The Development and Training of the 
Senses." 

3 Thompson: Brain and Personality (Dodd, Mead); Ch. VII, 

"Evolution of a Nervous System." 

4 Greenvfood: Principles of Education Practically Applied (Apple- 

ton) ; Ch. I, "Applications of Psychology to Teaching." 



62 



CHAPTER VI 

THE RECITATION 

Importance. The pupil is acquiring new ideas during 
all of his waking hours, but the recitation period is the most 
important one of the school day. At this time, especially, 
the child's conceptions are being enriched or made over into 
new ones. This is, therefore, the point of most vital contact 
between the minds of teacher and pupil. While the recita- 
tion period is taken up largely with a test of the latter, it 
is none the less a test of the former, and unless he can pass 
this ordeal successfully he is not a first-class instructor. 
Other defects in a teacher may be to some extent tolerated, 
provided he be eminently successful in conducting the 
recitation. 

In this chapter there wall be considered ( i ) purposes 
of the recitation ; (2) the preparation of the teacher ; ( 3) the 
preparation of the pupil ; and (4) methods of the recitation. 

First Purpose to Develop the Individual. Aside from 
the many methods and devices necessary for the work of 
mastering each particular lesson, the worthiest teacher is 
perhaps ever conscious of an aim and an effort to lead each 
and every pupil under his instruction from a crude state of 
development into a life more abundant. Given normal 
health, sufficient nourishment and plenty of out-door exer- 

63 



64 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

cise, the average child will enjoy life immensely without 
caring whether school keeps or not. But the time will come 
when his own happiness and well-being, as well as his use- 
fulness to society, will depend largely upon the type of 
mind acquired by him during the years of his formal school- 
ing. So, let the recitation period be devoted first to the 
understanding of the lesson at hand, and secondly to the 
implications of the lesson for future living. 

To Test Knowledge. A second purpose of the reci- 
tation is that of testing knowledge. Every expression of 
the pupil during the course of the recitation serves to indi- 
cate the precise status of his knowledge on this particular 
subject. Does he express himself clearly? Does he repeat 
memorized data accurately and readily? Does he use rules 
and principles understandingly rather than mechanically? 
Is his effort merely in the interest of making a showing in 
order to secure a good grade in the classbook? Does he 
show by means of his sincerity and forcibleness that he has 
the manner and the spirit of the true student? These are 
some of the questions that might arise in the teacher's mind 
during the course of conducting recitations. 

To Test Ignorance. What is there in the lesson that 
is not properly understood? There is likelihood of decep- 
tion here. The mere fact that the pupil says that he under- 
stands the principles involved warrants no such conclusion 
on the instructor's part. The weak places in the former's 
conceptions must be found by careful, detailed inquiry and 
must be strengthened by the same kind of slow-going 
process. Many pupils try hard to conceal rather than to 



THE KECITATION 65 

overcome their ignorance because of the habit of too many 
teachers of making it reflect too seriously upon the child 
when he gives a wrong answer. Such teachers are the ones 
who labor under the delusion that there is just one correct 
or satisfactory answer to every question they ask. Theirs 
is the cut-and-dried method. Their pupils are afraid to 
make a mistake, thinking it shameful or disgraceful to do so. 
For detailed method of taking advantage of the child's 
ignorance, see the chapter above on "The Meaning of Error 
in Education." 

To Eradicate Backwardness. Reticence is both a 
desirable and a natural characteristic of the growing child 
or youth in the presence of his respected elders. But 
backwardness wdth reference to any particular kind of 
recitation or response must not be permitted to remain long 
or it will become a fixed habit and a menace to advance- 
ment. The backward pupil has something to overcome 
within himself. The tactful teacher, realizing this fact, 
wall carefully direct the child in the beginning of the par- 
ticular kind of self-mastery desired. Among other things 
the nerve structures corresponding to the kind of activity 
under consideration are doubtless Aveak or at least pre- 
vented from functioning by others more highly developed. 
The case may be one of backwardness in using the tongue, 
the hand, or the whole body. In any and every case prac- 
tice of the specific kind of activity desired, and much of it, 
is the only remedy. 

Converselv, the recitation must serve to check undue 
forwardness. There are nervous babblers even among chil- 



66 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

dren. Such are inclined to speak without thinking and to 
ignore the rights and feeHngs of their associates, whom 
they try to crowd out. This tendency is deplorable in 
mature persons, but it is to be regarded as a mere defect 
to be overcome in the case of the young. The forward, 
babbling pupil is not perverse or mean. His mind is full of 
imaginings that seem to him as real as your matters of fact 
do to you. The lesson he especially needs is to follow up 
his thoughtless statements or acts to their faulty conclu- 
sions and compare these results with those obtained by more 
deliberative speaking and acting. He must learn to dis- 
criminate between fact and fantasy. Unless the defect of 
an over-active imagination be overcome in early years the 
one defective will never become acquainted with the delib- 
erative, painstaking method of science. 

To Improve Thinking. An important purpose of the 
recitation is, therefore, to develop the capability and habit 
of rational thinking. The child-mind is naturally impatient 
for results. It would rush ahead and make trifles suffice. 
How necessary, then, that the childish thinking should be 
understood and made more purposeful by careful attention 
thereto! A small boy said: "It would take ninety years to 
go up to the moon on the train." His statement was evi- 
dence of a healthy activity of the imagination, but his think- 
ing might have been aided by a few questions relative to 
railway transportation, the tracks, and the foundations 
therefor. 

To Develop Expression. "Be a doer, not a dreamer," 
is a fairly good motto, but it might be improved thus : "Be 



THE BECITATION 67 

both a dreamer and a doer." The so-called dreamer is one 
who has formed the habit of letting his ideas slowly perish 
within him unexpressed. The recitation period, to be of 
any great value to the pupil, must allow time for expression. 
He must not merel\ think how to spell that word, or how to 
utter that sentence, or how to draw that line, or how to 
saw that board. In every case he must exemplify his 
thought with an appropriate act. Such is the nature of 
true learning. 

.The negative side of this question presents a more serious 
aspect. Train two boys in the following manner : Let each 
have the same series of theoretical lessons, but see that 
boy A carries out every such lesson with the appropriate ex- 
pression, while boy B simply learns to observe how things 
are done and to explain his theories. At the end of the 
course you will find them wide apart. The world is full of 
grown men who have been trained too much like boy B. 
fhey can explain glibly how a battle ought to be fought, 
or how^ a certain kind of business ought to be managed, or 
how a particular wrong in society can be righted, but they 
simply cannot achieve anything, even when given fair op- 
portunity. They had little practice during early life in carry- 
ing out their theories, in expressing their thought by means 
of acts. The nerve connections that ought to have been 
made in early life are actually wanting, or are atrophied, and 
the power to achieve is lost forever. 

'For these reasons and others, dear teacher, be mindful of 
the pedagogical sin of attempting to hear too manv pupils 
in one recitation and of hurr\ing o^•er the subject-matter so 



68 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

as to cover all the ground of a text-book in a given time. 
School superintendents who make out overcrowded courses 
of study are among the parties to this wrong. For the 
benefit especially of young, inexperienced teachers every 
course of study should discriminate carefully between essen- 
tial principles that must be mastered and other matter that 
may be taken only to the extent that deliberative, expressive 
teaching will allow. 

To Connect the School and Society. A further pur- 
pose of the recitation is by means of suggestions, questions, 
and matter-of-fact statements to give the child the best 
and fullest possible impressions as to how properly trained 
men and women behave in mature society. The pupil is 
not necessarily made too prosaic and matter-of-fact if he be 
constantly led to observe how grown people use this better 
mode of expression, or that rule of arithmetic, this famil- 
iarity with geography or that knowledge of the world's his- 
tory, in furthering their legitimate material interests. Such 
observation, on the contrary, will add needed interest to the 
tasks at hand and give also a more wholesome regard for 
the great industrial pursuits of the country. Remember, 
too, that the two kinds of drones in our society — namely, 
the idle rich and the idle poor — are simply living examples 
of somebody's faulty teaching. 

To Bring Out Individuality. A certain florist had 
fifty beautiful young moss-roses growing in one plot. Now 
he had in a book several illustrations of the moss-rose, show- 
ing just how it ought to look at dififerent stages of its 
growth. Branches, leaves, buds, and blossom were all pic- 



THE RECITATJON 69 

tured clearly. But not one of the roses under his care 
seemed to be exactly like the illustration. So the good 
florist began to cut and trim and finally forced all the young 
plants to conform to the one model, although his efforts 
resulted in much stunting and cramping. 

"Foolish and artificial !" }ou say. "Why did not the 
florist permit each little rose to unfold in its own peculiar, 
beautiful manner, by simply furnishing good soil and water 
and sunshine, and pruning away only the ugly branches 
and trimming back only where one tended to become top- 
heavy or to shut out the light from others?" But, fellow 
teacher, are you sure that you are not this same florist 
and that the tender plants under your care, your pupils, are 
not treated as the roses were? Is there not possible, for in- 
stance, such a thing as individuality in handwriting and 
yet conformity to the essential rules of legibility and sym- 
metry ? May not the child in reading and reciting use cer- 
tain accents and intonations that are spontaneous and pecu- 
liar and beautiful, although at variance with your book 
rule? May he not make certain gestures and assume some 
bodily attitudes in "speaking his piece" and in marching 
that are at once very graceful and expressive and yet not 
exactly conformable to rules laid down for your elocution 
class? One purpose of the recitation, in other words, is to 
bring out the individuality of the pupil. We are attracted 
to a person the more if among his little modes of response 
there are some that are peculiar to him yet agreeable to us. 
Not a dull monotony but an interesting variety of speech 
and action is what we desire in our friends. And so may 



70 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

the teacher during the course of the recitation watch for and 
encourage the budding of each peculiar little form of genius. 

Preparation of the Teacher. A chapter has already 
been devoted to the general preparation of the teacher for 
his calling ; so the brief discussion here will have reference 
to the recitation only. 

Reviewing. The successful teacher's preparation for 
conducting classwork dates back to his childhood. Every 
little experience of his past life is liable at some time to be 
brought into service for purposes of illustration and 
amplification. Readiness in the use of his personal every- 
day experience to aid his pupils in defining their 
own constitutes a large portion of the aptitude of the 
"natural-born teacher." It is foolish to say that the teacher 
must review every lesson carefully shortly before the hour 
of the recitation. The district teacher simply cannot do 
this thing, for want of time. Many review the lesson texts 
entirely too much, so that there is no time remaining for 
outside reading and reflection. Such practice is very nar- 
rowing, as nothing new is thereby brought into the mind 
of the teacher or into the pupils' minds during the recitation. 
Of course, the instructor must have once mastered the sub- 
ject-matter of the text. After that a hasty glance into the 
book is often sufficient. 

Outside Reading. The teacher's reading in related 
subjects is very important. As an aid to teaching reading 
and history of the United States let him take up the stand- 
ard myths and fables and the many classic true stories of 
ancient times ; also historical and biographical treatises re- 



THE RECITATION 71 

lating to our country, including a brief history of American 
literature. In order to freshen his mind in the other com- 
mon branches he may consult other texts than the adopted 
ones. Some of the branches in the course do not naturally 
interest the instructor ; he will, therefore, tend to slight 
them. But his interest in them will develop somewhat if 
he can bring to the class certain matter not contained in 
the chosen text. 

Self-Confidence. The teacher who takes to the class- 
room an abundance of fresh information and ideas with 
which to enliven the recitation period renders his own man- 
ner one of greater self-confidence and ease. He carries to 
every recitation more than enough to supplement the work 
of the text and there is in his classes, therefore, never a 
moment of dullness. 

Assigning Lessons. This is an important duty. The 
matter of assigning a reasonable and definite amount of 
work for pupils of all grades is one that has to be learned. 
Not enough work means wandering minds and mischievous 
plots. Too much leads to discouragement or careless habits 
of preparation. There are several methods of assigning les- 
sons, the first and simplest of which is to indicate the exact 
page limits. This method is a good one in case of young 
children and it is never so bad and illogical as some writers 
pretend to consider it. There is much evidence that even 
high-school seniors will prepare a lesson better if they are 
told to study a certain number of pages. The well-written 
text will permit of this kind of assignment. 

Another method is to give out one or more topics and 



72 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

require that preparation be made thereon for the next recita- 
tion. If the topic method is used there ought to be an ac- 
companying outhne, one which shows the relative impor- 
tance of the subtopics. The author considers the exponent 
system of outUning both confusing and abominable. But 
leave out the exponent figures, and it is very acceptable. 
That is, arrange coordinate topics one above the other, and 
place subordinate ones a certain space to the right and below 
the topic they subdivide. The topical outline has its greatest 
advantage in forewarning the pupil as to what particular 
work is expected of him. Its value, however, is much les- 
sened by its impracticability, for the teacher has little time 
to make full outlines for all the subjects. It would add 
greatly to the merit of many common-school texts if they 
contained complete topical outlines of their subject-matter. 

'A third method of assigning lessons is to require a stated 
amount of written work. Such a plan gives the teacher a 
better opportunity of knowing how much work of prepara- 
tion is being done, if the classes are large. It also helps 
in the matter of grading pupils justly. But if this method 
is to prove most effective two cautions must be observed: 
(i) Use every reasonable means to prevent the copying of 
written work among pupils. (2) Always see that the 
written work assigned is actually done, or else know the 
reason why it is not. Pupils soon learn to pad their written 
accounts and to bring Up superficial or carelessly written 
matter unless held strictly to a standard. In every lesson- 
assignment let quality be considered above quantity. 

Art of Study Acquired by Pupil. Many so-called stu- 



THE RECITATION 73 

dents never learn how to study. In our high schools and 
even in our colleges there may be found scores of young 
people blundering along through the course in hit-or-miss 
fashion. An inquiry made of two hundred college students 
obtained the interesting information that very few of them 
had ever considered in any way the question of methods 
of study. But this matter is not to be ignored. The stu- 
dent of any age who has a good, scientific method of study 
has the wbrk of lesson-getting already half-done. Why not 
give a few minutes' specific instruction on this topic to every 
class in the school? 

Finding a Problem. It is a hard saying but neverthe- 
less true that the ordinary young pupil will not study unless 
a specific lesson be assigned him. He is absent on Monday 
and, asked to recite with Tuesday's class, says : "I didn't 
know what the lesson was." This same thing is common 
among even high-school and college students. The student's 
attitude in all such cases is as though he would say to the 
instructor: "It is my business to come to school, but it is 
yours to see that I know what the lesson is and prepare it." 

Much has been said of late about the child's finding his 
own problem, but this theory seems to work well in only 
two classes of schools — namely, the kindergarten and the 
university. Turn the average healthy three-year-old child 
loose among the stock of nursery playthings and he will 
easily find a problem ; that is, he will become thoroughly 
absorbed in his efiforts to make childish constructions and 
arrangements and will learn much from the experience. 
The student at the university is supposedly proceeding in 



74 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

the same manner, only on a much more intelligent scale. He 
goes into great libraries and laboratories and singles out of 
a confusing mass just such facts and figures as he can use in 
finding and working out a problem. His efforts are not 
more serious and matter-of-fact to him that are those of the 
child to the latter, judging each from his own point of view. 
There is this difference, however : The child's play is more 
capricious ; the end is in the activity itself — he is playing. 
The university student is aiming at a more remote end, one 
outside of the activity. He is working. But in all the 
grades between the kindergarten and the university our 
schools are organized, as some believe, too thoroughly. The 
whole course is laid out for the child before he is born and, 
right or wrong, we find it necessary to coax or lead or force 
him to take it with very little deviation. So the much- 
written-about finding of his own problem is little thought 
of and less practiced by the average teacher. 

There is a sense in Avhich the spirit of the method of al- 
lowing the child to iind his own problem can be observed. 
Too much help in lesson-getting reduces pupils to habits of 
dependence. Therefore, ( i ) let there be a minimum of 
actual, direct assistance given; (2) let the necessary assist- 
ance be given, when possible, without the pupil's knowl- 
edge of the fact; (3) let all helping and directing be merely 
suggestive. The pupil must feel that he is taking the 
initiative, that the work or the problem is largely at his 
own disposal. What if the Americans had given up the 
battle of Bunker Hill? Having found the area of a rec- 
tangle, how shall we measure a right triangle ? Why is our 



THE RECITATION 75 

government so desirous of constructing the great, expensive 
Panama Canal ? The preceding questions are such as might 
stimulate original thinking in case of intermediate pupils, 
especially if they be given time to answer them. 

Significant Lesson Features. There is evidently much 
time lost by students of all classes on account of their not 
knowing how to determine what is most significant in the 
lesson to be prepared. Some try to commit the whole lesson 
to memory and hence retain little or nothing permanently. 
Others read the discussions over faithfully many times and 
yet obtain poor results because of a failure to organize the 
subject-matter. A little reflection regarding this matter 
will convince the intelligent teacher that one of the most 
profitable ways of expending the first hours of a new term 
is to give a carefully prepared course of instruction on how 
to study. The pupil must have a good, habitual method of 
procedure. It requires too much time to forewarn pupils 
regarding every lesson. Help them, rather, to form the 
habit, early in the course, of asking themselves : "What is 
the chief point of this lesson I am about to prepare ? What 
is the author trying to tell, or explain, or prove?" 

Time to Study. As pupils advance in years and experi- 
ence they become better able to perform their work with a 
view to permanent results. After the first few grades are 
passed it is found desirable to break up the practice of 
studying a lesson immediately before it is to be recited. 
Whenever possible, advanced students had better make their 
preparations at least the day preceding the time of class 
discussion. It is amusing to observe mature students taking 



76 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

a last fond look into their text-books just before they are 
to be called upon to recite. An orderly, systematic arrange- 
ment of all daily work is essential to the best results in 
school. Therefore, let the teacher place before the school a 
full program for study, as well as for recitation, showing 
both the order and the amount of time for each branch. 
Young persons trained to careful, scientific methods of study 
will have greater stability of character to sustain them in 
the work of their mature years. 

Reference Work. The proper time to learn to do ref- 
erence work is during the common-school course. Pupils 
of the grammar department are quite ready for this kind 
of exercise, but the mere recommendation that it be done 
does not suffice. It is necessary to make this reference 
work a requirement until its value is realized by the pupil 
himself and it has become something of a habit with him. 
For immature pupils an academic dictionary is better than 
an unabridged, and a condensed cyclopzedia much to be 
preferred to an exhaustive one. 

Suitable reference books for pupils will be listed at the 
close of the several chapters treating special branches, to 
follow. 



REFERENCES 



1 ROARK: Method in Education (American Book Co.); Chs. IV, V, 

"The Lesson." A clear detailed discussion of the presentation 
of the lesson. 

2 Hinsdale. Art of Study (American Book Co.); Ch. VIII, "The 

Study-Recitation" ; Ch. X, '"Attacking the Lesson." 

II 

1 Keith: Elementary Education (Scott, Foresman) ; Chs. VIII, IX. 

"The Recitation." 

2 Baldwin: ScJiool Management and School Methods (Appletou) ; 

Part II, Ch. X V I, "Pupil Improvement Through Educative 
Class Methods and Devices." 

Ill 

1 Mc Murray: Method of the Recitation (Macmillan) ; Ch. XI, 

"Illustrative Lessons."' 

2 De Garmo: Interest in Education (Macmillan); Chs. X to XII. 

All these chapters discuss the recitation ably. 

3 Du Bois: The Point of Contact (Dodd, Mead). A helpful book. 

Read it all. 



77 



CHAPTER VII 

THE RECITATION (CONTINUED) 

The Problem. The general problem of the recitation is 
how to secure the maximum of attention and expression 
from every member of the class. Without attention there 
can, of course, be little or no learning. But attention had 
better be of the involuntary rather than of the voluntary 
sort. Attention with effort really means divided attention. 
In such case the mind is engaged partly in following the 
presentation of the lesson and partly with the mere effort. 
A sleepy youth stated that he had had hard work following 
Professor X's lecture on Latin syntax, for his attention had 
alternated between the lecture and the task of pinching 
himself frequently in order to keep awake. Involuntary at- 
tention really means absorption in the subject, an ideal con- 
dition for learning. But in order that the attention may be 
of this desirable nature the subject must change and develop 
before the mind. The result of holding the attention upon 
a fixed object is either sleep or hypnotism. The child-mind, 
lacking depth of experience, is incapable of sustaining at- 
tention. After the first moment, nothing new or different 
comes into the meaning of the object unless the instructor 
aids in the matter. 

The crowning act of learning comes through expression, 

78 



THE BECITATION 79 

by means of which the nerve arrangements are made out 
and the work of memorizing made effective and permanent. 
This subject will receive full consideration in Part II of this 
book. 

The Topic Method. This method consists in giving 
the members of the class a topic for oral or written discus- 
sion. If carried out carefully, it has several advantages. 
By it the whole discussion is given a logical center so that 
the other members of the class can more easily follow the 
one talking and think with him. It gives the members 
called upon an opportunity to offer a complete, even if brief, 
discussion. It furnishes to all considerable practice in re- 
stating and correcting the discussions of others. It is 
evidently the most suitable method for the upper-grade 
classes. Care, however, must be exercised in allowing the 
pupil sufficient time to make a relatively complete recitation 
on the topic. On account of a crowded course, this is the 
point whereat the most common error occurs. The clock is 
constantly threatening to indicate the beginning of another 
class period. So the discussion is snatched away from the 
pupil and given a quick, abstract clincher by the teacher, and 
the subject is dismissed. 

Writing upon a topic is impracticable during the class 
period, for want of time. But written treatment of a topic, 
brought to class and submitted for consideration by all, is a 
valuable means of instruction. Such preparation of the les- 
son gives needed practice in precision and in correct gram- 
matical construction, as well as more opportunity for logical 
arrangement of the thought. 



80 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

Questions and Answers. The question-and-answer 
method possesses peculiar merit. It admits of a sort of 
rapid-fire movement up and down the Hne of the class in 
the course of which the least attentive or most sluggish 
pupil may be selected as the target. The members of the 
class are questioned not in any alphabetical or other fixed 
order, but in accordance with a preconceived plan of reach- 
ing those in greatest need of the exercise. No pupil ought 
to know when his turn is coming. The author has known 
instances of class-questioning being carried on in so routine 
a way that pupils would figure out two days in advance just 
when their turns were to come, and study accordingly. He 
knew another instructor who invariably began at the head 
of the alphabet and scarcely ever reached the letter M 
before the bell rang the changes. The pupils knew him, too. 
Every member of the class must think the answer before 
any particular one is asked to discuss a question. Hence, 
state the question first ; then, call the name of the one who 
is to recite. 

The habit some teachers have of wasting the precious 
moments in asking a long series of questions which the 
pupils can answer almost without thinking at all is abom- 
inable. He knows they know the answers, and they know 
he knows they know the answers, and he knows they know 
the last-mentioned fact, and the whole process is about as 
thin and insipid as a page from a Chinese primer. As this 
manner of conducting the recitation is noisy, and the pupils 
answer readily in concert, the. teacher deceives himself with 
the belief that it is worth while, There are other instructors 



THE RECITATION 81 

who resort to this kindergarten method only when visitors 
are present, in order to make a creditable showing before the 
latter. Think of squandering the time of a class, every one 
of whom knows the eights thoroughly, in this manner: 

Q. "How many is three times eight?" 

A. "Twenty-four." 

Q. "How many is eight times three?" 

A. "Twenty-four." 

Q. "Three eights equal how many?" 

A. "Twenty-four." 

Q. "Eight threes equal how many?" 

A. "Twenty-four." 

Q. "Three multiplied by eight?" 

A. "Twenty-four." 

Q.' "Eight multiplied by three?" 

A. "Twenty-four." 

So the dull grind goes on. 

Give the pupils something to do or something to think 
about at every step. If you suspect that a certain unpre- 
pared pupil has come to class with the hope of getting 
through the period on his luck or on his bluff or his circum- 
locution, attack him first with your questions. Be gentle 
and jovial with him, but be sure to lead him into entangle- 
ments that he might have avoided by studying the lesson. 
The entire procedure will have a good moral effect. It is 
recommended that questions at all times be made somewhat 
trying. Put the pupil on the defensive and make him re- 
sponsible for every answer he gives. The questioning 
process often, with profit, drifts into an animated argument 



83 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

during the course of which the pupil feels somewhat piqued. 
The feeling thus aroused will give him a better flow of lan- 
guage and more courage to carry on his side of the con- 
tention. 

Leading Questions. Another abomination is the lead- 
ing question, one that suggests unmistakably the answer. 
Many teachers unintentionally and unconsciously fall into 
the practice of using it. The question leaves just one, easily 
guessed word to be supplied by the pupil, or a slight accent 
in the teacher's voice indicates the correct answer. Often 
pupils are so enslaved to this method of leading ques- 
tions that their dependence upon it would be amusing if 
it were not so serious, for it destroys in large measure the 
habit of reflecting for oneself. For example, a certain class 
of young people had been accustomed to this kind of train- 
ing. All the members well knew that the verb to he is 
intransitive and therefore governs no case forms in the 
predicate. But when asked such a question as, "In the 
sentence, 'We thought him to be a man,' why is man in the 
objective case?" they were easily led into the erroneous 
answer, "It is the object of the verb, to be." 

Much time and patience are required to eradicate the bad 
habit of answering without sufficient thought. An effective 
means is implied above ; that is, ask a leading question that 
with seeming innocence invites an erroneous answer. Then 
cause the error to reflect discredit upon the scholarship of 
the pupil. 

Some Small Matters. Begin the recitation at the 
pupil's point of view and gradually bring it to the point de- 



THE EE( ITATION 83 

sired. In case of youtig children a slight pretense of igno- 
rance is often allowable. Children like to feel that they are 
telling something actually new. Early in the course of 
the recitation, see, if need be, that the threads of the last 
lesson are woven into the woof of the present one. Do not 
hesitate to allow a little fun and merriment to creep into 
the recitation. A merry laugh will often do much to over- 
come sluggishness and to create general good feeling. If 
either the teacher or some pupil possesses in his makeup a 
genuine vein of humor, let this vein be drawn upon occa- 
sionally to furnish condiment for the soberer thought. Not 
infrequently a humorous story can be made the basis of a 
splendid lesson of some sort. 

Off the Subject. It is a mistake to think that the 
learning is all in the text-books. Very often a recent im- 
portant occurrence or some new condition arising will read- 
ily make a more interesting and profitable topic for discus- 
sion than the one appointed for the day. It must not be 
forgotten that young pupils are not in school merely to study 
and recite text-book lessons. The ultimate end is so to 
fashion character that there will accrue to each individual a 
greater fullness of noble life and a greater sense of inner 
power. So the wide-awake teacher will make every impor- 
tant condition or event contribute to this higher aim. To 
illustrate the point, let us suppose that there has just oc- 
curred a terrible earthquake such as that of December 28, 
1908, in Southern Italy. The minds of the pupils will be 
so occupied with this subject that little else can really be 
thought of. The teacher who rightly grasps the meaning of 



84 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

his great profession certainly will not let this occasion pass 
without devoting an hour to the matter, perhaps before the 
entire school. He probably will first give a brief account of 
the catastrophe and the substance of the best available in- 
formation as to the causes and the nature of earthquakes, 
and then make the moral lesson apparent. 

It must not be forgotten that much of the most valuable 
teaching comes about through inference and suggestion. 
The lesson that is well taught so often merely leaves good 
impressions and silent judgments. In such cases the learner 
simply resolves within himself to make his own conduct 
conform in some particular way to a higher ideal. By 
this means there will be reaHzed the import of the sound 
psychological scriptural injunction, "Be ye transformed 
by the renewing of your minds." 

Stand or Sit. It is well to require young pupils to 
stand for part of the recitation. Rising to recite is the 
occasion of a little bodily exercise and brings the child 
prominently before the eyes of his classmates and the 
teacher. Besides increasing slightly his feeling of respon- 
sibility for the question asked, it gives the pupil practice 
in "thinking on his feet," as we say. The recitation which 
the pupil makes standing is really the first step in prepara- 
tion for the important work of public rhetoricals that must 
come later. But it is slavish to follow without variation 
this rule of standing to recite. It is sometimes wasteful. 
Moreover, a little practice in remaining seated during the 
recitation is often a means of the pupils' acquiring greater 
force of vocal expression. - It seems too suggestive of the 



THE KEClTA'ilON 85 

nursery to require mature students to jump to their feel 
for every little recitation. Such a method is likely to be 
regarded by them as trivial and beneath their dignity. 

Daily Grading. It is difficult for some to understand 
why a teacher should sit with pencil in hand during the 
recitation and grade every pupil on his effort. Although 
some do this, it seems to others to be suggestive of the 
over-mechanical, bookish teacher. Students soon learn to 
observe this practice and try to take advantage of it. They 
will be seen craning their necks and peering over the 
shoulder of the teacher or watching his pencil movements 
in order to determine whether they have received a "ten" 
or a "goose egg." The instructor's real motive for this 
manner of marking daily grades is doubtless to reward the 
student for good, regular work, and to indicate to the 
latter that certain and immediate punishment results from 
his remissness. But the first object just named will be 
secured if the student is assured that his daily work will be 
considered in making the term averages, especially if the 
teacher establishes a reputation for such equitable form 
of grading at the end of the first term. If the class is 
not larger than it should be, the intelligent instructor can 
record from memory, at the time of the Aveekly or monthly 
quiz, the average daily grade merited by each pupil. As 
to the second object — punishment for the failure to respond 
properly — this may be secured to better advantage by means 
of the tactful rebuke administered during the course of the 
daily questioning. No self-respecting pupil cares to suf- 
fer the weight of humiliation under which he mav thus 



86 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

be brought by the skillful teacher. If it is felt, however, 
that there must be daily grading, let it be done in private, 
at the close of the period or the daily session. 

Reviews. Reviews, unless very carefully conducted, 
are certain to be dry and uninteresting. More skill in the 
instructor is required to prepare for the reviews than to 
conduct the daily recitation. A carefully arranged outline 
for his private benefit, and perhaps for class use, is advised. 
Here two important matters may not be overlooked: (i) 
that the parts of the text not well understood during the 
course now be made clearer; (2) that the various impor- 
tant features of the term's work stand out in closer rela- 
tionship. But both of these statements are but the expres- 
sion in different ways of the only legitimate purpose of the 
review ; namely, to enable the student to grasp more fully 
the whole subject under consideration. The review lesson 
that merely covers in a perfunctory manner the same 
old ground as the original one, may result in considerable 
noise in its recitation, but it also is attended with little think- 
ing. To conduct a review for the mere purpose of enabling 
the pupils to make a better showing in the coming examina- 
tion is unfair to them and folly on the part of the instructor. 
When it is remembered that pupils rarely, if ever, make any 
preparation for the review exercises, it will perhaps seem 
advisable to do more reviewing during the course of the 
term's work and less of it at the end. 

Examinations. "What are regular examinations for, 
anyway?" is a question we often hear asked. Some schools 
have abolished them altogether and are depending upon 



THE RECITATION 87 

the daily class records and the informal test, or quiz, as a 
basis for promotion. Let vs enumerate all the points that 
may be regarded as favoring regular examinations : 

1 They furnish the only fair basis of promotion. 

2 Students who are backward in the oral recitation are 

enabled by them to show their true merit. 

3 They give all the same final opportunity to win promo- 

tion, and this accords with the student's sense of 
justice. 

4 Being in the nature of an ordeal, they develop courage 

and self-reliance. 

5 They furnish an incentive to more diligent study. 

6 Through them the student is led to make the work 

of preparation more permanent. 

7 They give opportunity for practice in making clear 

written statements of a subject. 

8 A permanent record of work is obtained by means of 

them. 

9 They afford the student a means of estimating his own 

worth. 
lo The teacher has as a result of them something tangible 
whereby to defend his method of grading. 

These points will be discussed informally. 

The first point is not a very valid one. The quiz, which 
may be given at irregular intervals and at a time least 
expected by the pupil, will furnish data upon which to base 
promotions. There are at least two important advantages 
in the quiz as an informal examination : (i ) The pupil 



88 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

has had no opportunity to "cram" for it — an abominable 
though very common practice preceding regular set exami- 
nations. (2) The quiz, coming unexpectedly, finds the 
average student in better physical condition. The observ- 
ing teacher will readily notice that many students suffer 
from nervous chills at the time of ^et examinations. A 
low degree of vitality is further manifested in the poor 
handwriting, the bad spelling, and the incoherent state- 
ments of many of the manuscripts, as well as by the cold 
hands and feet, the headaches and the like, of many stu- 
dents. Under the conditions just described disturbed or 
enfeebled heart action, a more or less benumbed state of 
the brain, sluggish thinking, and poor memory are 
necessary accompaniments. 

A kind of superficial knowledge of a subject is often 
somewhat encouraged by teachers who go over the points 
with the class many times just preceding examinations. A 
prominent instructor in a state institution had a habit 
of saying, "Now remember that ; it may come up again !" 
His students always noted this remark, for they knew his 
warning to mean that the final list of questions was being 
made up. 

If teachers would make the daily recitation more nearly 
like an examination — that is, if they would habitually culti- 
vate the sentiment among their pupils that the questioning 
is always to be of such a nature as thoroughly to test knowl- 
edge and mental grasp of the subject — then the final, set 
examination might be somewhat superfluous. Young teach- 
ers, especially, are often backward about asking sharp, 



THE RECITATION 89 

searching questions, for fear of offending the pupil or hurt- 
ing his feeHngs. But nothing in the course of the recitation 
is better suited to develop positiveness of character and 
sureness of judgment in the latter than a series of such 
questions during the course of which he is put somewhat 
upon the defensive. Of course, sensitive pupils must be 
dealt with tactfully. 

The manner of procedure just described will doubtless 
furnish the instructor sufficient data on which to base his 
promotions, but will he (or she) have the courage to mark 
any pupils below the required standard without some manu- 
script evidence? Perhaps not. For the pupil who fails 
is usually capable of a very able and persistent argument 
in behalf of his promotion. His parents — one or both, 
it may be — will have to be treated with also before the case 
is settled. As a means of defense in such instances as this 
it is recommended that the instructor have ready at hand 
some form of written work done by the pupil. The quiz 
papers will do. Let the papers be graded with perfect 
fairness and consciousness. Then, the teacher who would 
win self-respect and the respect of others must stand firm 
on his decision. 

It can scarcely be denied that final examinations as usu- 
ally conducted have little value as incentives to study 
and to permanent preparation of the lesson. A valuable 
suggestion in justification of examinations, taken from a 
paper written by my colleague. Professor J. E. Kammeyer. 
is this : "The pupil becomes accustomed to this method 
of gauging his fitness, and will find this experience a valu- 



90 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

able asset to him when he becomes an applicant for any 
of the many positions or occupations to which a written 
examination is the only open door. It cannot be denied that 
the civil service idea is growing. Teachers are not the 
only ones who must pass an examination before they may 
secure a position. In our government service there are 
now 286,000 positions under civil service. Large corpora- 
tions, states, and municipalities are adopting this plan." 
From this it is manifest that an experience in passing 
written examinations is of value outside of the schoolroom. 

Perhaps the worst thing that can be said concerning them 
is that they encourage cheating and dishonesty. Students 
who are otherwise truthful and honest will often copy 
from the manuscripts of others, and many who will not 
scruple to do this will readily permit others to look at 
their papers. There seems to prevail among students and 
pupils a sort of sentiment in effect that these set examina- 
tions are something to be dreaded and that they are simply 
a means whereby the teacher is trying to get even with 
them for their remissness. These resentful feelings 
themselves encourage dishonesty. 

If the best results are to be obtained from the examination 
it is only fair to each student in the class that every 
reasonable effort be put forth to remove opportunities and 
temptations to cheat. Seat the members of the class well 
apart so that they wall not be in plain view of one another's 
manuscripts. And, then, it is not well to arouse resentment 
by keeping too close watch during every moment of the 
period. 



PART II 

THE SPECIAL BRANCHES OF INSTRUCTION 



INTRODUCTORY 

Before detailed suggestions are given regarding the 
treatment of this or that particular subject, it might as well 
be admitted that there is no universally best method of 
instructing in the case of them. Efficiency in teaching is 
always a question of results, and some obtain good results 
through methods that others could not use to advantage. 
There are, however, certain high aims connected with any 
subject. Some of these might well be pointed out, and 
certain psychological principles of procedure, as well. But 
the best that can be attempted here is to stimulate the mind 
of the teacher to the end that he may not blindly follow 
traditional methods, and to the further end that he may 
call out his own best resources in handling any subject. 

Nothing is more to be shunned by the teacher than fore- 
gone conclusions. It is so natural and easy to fall into 
routine methods of teaching without questioning the results 
of these methods. It is difficult, on the other hand, to set 
a constant watch upon these matters and to keep renewing 
one's ways of regarding and treating a subject, but the 
ability so to do is one of the characteristics of the progress- 
ive teacher. He who shows constantly a disposition to 
regard an old truth in a new light is still deserving of being 
credited with mental youth, and he possesses within himself 

93 



94 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

the means of his further enlightenment. One of the best 
methods of keeping an open consciousness with reference 
to the branches taught is (i) to read and study the new 
advanced texts in the particular subjects, and (2) to do 
considerable reading in general philosophy. What the 
young teacher especially is likely to lack is a sufficient fund 
of associated knowledge with which to enrich the subject- 
matter of the recitation. 



CHAPTER VIII 

BEADING 

Self-Examination. Before attempting to teach reading 
to the various classes of }Oung children let the instructor 
pass a mental examination on the two sets of questions that 
follow : 

A 

1 What kind of literature interested you most 

a When you were just entering the first grade? 
b When you were eight to ten years of age ? 
c When you were thirteen to fifteen? 
d When you had reached your present point of 
development ? 

2 Do you note any marked change in yot^r literary taste 

during these various periods? 

3 What was the chief benefit of the literature most enjoyed 

in each case? 

4 How much of the reading that you now do is for mere 

passing entertainment? 

5 Does your present reading contribute 

a To your understanding of people? 
b To your ability to converse fluently with others ? 
c To your moral standing in the community? 
95 



96 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

B 

1 By what method were you taught to read? 

2 What was there useless and wasteful about the method? 

3 Was it really the method or the content of the lesson 

that aided you most in learning to read? 

4 What sense organs were of most service in the process? 

5 Of what service was your imagination? 

6 Of what service was the knowledge you then had of 

concrete things? 

7 Were you reared in the country or in the city? 

8 Why can you teach reading better if you have personal 

knowledge of the pupil's home environment? 

The ends to be sought in teaching reading, as implied 
by these two sets of questions, are an ultimate one and 
a mechanical one. The usual order of treatment will be 
here reversed. 

The Ultimate Aim. The ultimate end of teaching this 
subject is. roughly speaking, to enable the student rightly 
to appreciate and to interpret good literature, such as will 
help to make him a better and a happier member of the 
family circle in which he lives, and a stronger and more 
useful member of society. Good literature has two or three 
important functions, the advantages of which will finally 
accrue to the well-trained reader. It not only instructs 
and entertains one but also becomes a source of inspiration 
to him and renders his casual thought-activities worthy. 
Bad literature produces in the mind useless dreaming, vain- 
glorious aspirations, and sensual and criminal intentions. 



READING 97 

So the pupil must finally acquire the ability to distin- 
guish between these two classes of reading, making use of 
the one and rejecting the other. 

A Less Remote Aim. But we must not lose sight of 
the fact that the child is, from his point of view, just 
as vitally a member of human society at ten as he is at 
twenty or later. He is not merely preparing to live in the 
future but living now. However, his ideals and aspirations 
are constantly changing and hence the character of his 
reading-lessons as well as the manner of interpreting them 
must change. It is, therefore, the duty of the teacher to 
understand fully the nature of the likes and dislikes of 
children at various stages of their growth, as well as to 
know the peculiar characteristics of those immediately under 
his instruction, and to present the reading-lesson accord- 
ingly. It is not enough to say that the reading-lesson is 
merely a means to instruct the child. It must influence him 
in his daily conduct and become a factor in his character- 
building. The story told in the lesson, perhaps incidentally 
— of the consideration of a young lad for an aged grand- 
mother ; of the faithful assistance rendered by a young 
school-girl to her afflicted mother ; of the manly courage of 
a youth who chose the right course in the face of great 
temptation ; of the earnest and faithful endeavor of the 
boy who had to make his way alone in the world — these 
are examples of the types of sentiment that may develop 
out of the reading-lesson and enter into the lives of the 
young readers. 

Children enjoy nonsense and fairy tales and other stories 



98 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

that sport with the fixed conditions of reaUty, and it is 
well to indulge them considerably in such enjoyment. Too 
much nonsense in the reading-lesson may lead to fixed 
insincerity and possibly prevarication in later life, but a 
certain amount of it is believed to be contributive to that 
healthy light-spiritedness which characterizes the attractive 
member of grown-up society. How fondly many persons 
treasure the Mother Goose rhymes learned and oft repeated 
during early childhood! And, too, a little nonsense is 
occasionally a healthy tonic for both the body and the mind 
of the child. Many excellent authorities on educational 
theory now recognize its value. Too many purely imagi- 
native stories may tend to develop the youth into the unsci- 
entific vagarist, while the other extreme may leave the mind 
too matter-of-fact and prosaic. A happy mean is, therefore, 
to be sought here also. 

Which Method? Doubtless the impatient reader is 
already wondering why one of the traditional methods of 
teaching beginners how to read is not recommended as best. 
While it is admitted that the mechanical phase of teaching 
this subject is of considerable importance, it is also main- 
tained that an interest in the content of the reading-lesson 
is of vastly greater importance. Secure and hold this inter- 
est in every lesson and the average child will progress 
splendidly in the task of learning to read, in spite of a bad 
mechanical method, or none at all in particular. The author 
has to confess that he was taught to read by the old-fash- 
ioned a-b-c method — a shameful thing, as some modern 
pedagogues would have us believe. He first -learned thor- 



ep:adikg 99 

oughly all the letters of the alphabet, and was then taught to 
"read the words by spelling the same." And children 
acquired the art of reading very readily in those good 
old days. 

The Word Method. The word method assumes, not 
without reason, that the child-mind grasps things more 
easily in wholes than in parts ; that the eye of the child 
learns to recognize the word more readily if he is not con- 
fused by attention to the elements, i. e., the letters of which 
it is c"bmposed. The usual plan is to present to the begin- 
ner at first simple names of objects most familiar to him; 
and, when practicable, to show a picture or even the object 
itself as an aid. Children who are good visualizers advance 
very satisfactorily by this word method, but there are many 
so-called "audiles" among children — that is, those who rec- 
ognize objects more readily by sound than by sight. These 
are assisted very much in the reading-lesson if they are 
acquainted with the letters of the alphabet. Let the teacher 
test this matter for himself and he will find not a few 
children who can recognize the more difficult words only 
after they have heard themselves spell them. 

The Sentence Method. This method differs only in 
degree from the one just discussed. Since the sentence is 
the expression of a full thought the child naturally and 
readily recognizes such an expression as the unit of printed 
discourse. A single word suggests an idea to him, but 
the whole sentence expresses it for him. An actual test 
of a child that is learning to read will reall}- show that 
he can read a whole sentence tiuickh- and vet not be able 



100 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

to recognize certain of the component words when these 
alone are pointed out to him. The fact is, very probably, 
that he has committed the sentence to memory and that the 
first two or three words, recognized either by sight or 
by sound, enable him to repeat the whole statement. 

But a serious objection to this method arises when we 
become aware of the fact that whole sentences are seldom 
repeated and that the acquaintance of the child with one 
sentence is, therefore, of little service in his learning 
another. Hence, his reading-knowledge is not cumulative 
in power. Single words are often repeated and they are, 
therefore, psychological elements of the reading-lesson. 
While the ordinary mature reader doubtless takes in at a 
glance whole phrases and sentences, his act of recognition 
is the result of thousands of experiences of seeing the 
separate words in manifold groupings or arrangements. 
To the practiced reader the whole process of reading is so 
thoroughly familiar that it well-nigh baffles analysis. He 
has a full stock of images of all the words most commonly 
used. But let just one familiar word in a simple sentence 
be printed in an imusual kind of type, say, capitals, and 
he will probably have to stop and spell out this word before 
he can recognize it. He really has no visual image of the 
word printed in capital letters. 

The A-B-C Method. There is really no pedagogic sin 
in permitting children to- learn the letters of the alphabet 
along with their reading-lesson. They are inclined to do 
so, anyway. In fact, many of the most efficient primary 
instructors teach not merely the letters but their elementary 



KEADlxNU 101 

sounds, and spelling as well, to mere beginners in reading. 
Unfortunately for this method, many teachers, especially 
those in the ungraded district schools, are themselves none 
too familiar with the elementary sounds. In case of such 
teachers it seems best to advise that beginners be taught to 
spell the simple words of the reading-lesson, especially since 
this is an age of poor spellers and of little practice in the 
art of spelling. 

The Secret of Success. One of the chief secrets of 
success in learning to read well is practice. He who reads 
much reads fluently, easily. Some children never become 
good readers for the simple reason that they never become 
thoroughly interested in reading of any kind, and hence do 
not read much. If the teacher can so present the first simple 
lessons in this subject that the content actually appeals to 
the child, the latter is well on the road to successful mastery 
of the subject. This point of vital, personal appeal to the 
mind of the child simply must be found or the work will be 
a failure. 

The First Lesson. As an introduction to the first les- 
son in reading, the teacher should form a close acquaintance 
with the child. If the latter is ready to enter school, he can 
talk familiarly on some childish topic. Determine what this 
topic is and begin the work at the point upon which the 
child has the most knowledge. This lesson must be both 
interesting and entertaining to the child, so that he may 
through freedom from self-consciousness be placed in the 
first essential mental attitude of the learner. The author's 
first reading-lesson was found in AIcGufify's Primer and 



103 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

was about the ox. The first sentence was, "It is an ox." 
But what child of to-day would know anything about the 
ox ? Even the familiar and much-used cat is scarcely known 
to some. Most children are incHned at home to play in a 
routine way unless directed thoughtfully. This routine 
makes the child most familiar with some particular thing. 
It may be a goat, a donkey, a top, a kite, or a toy cart. 
Discover what this familiar thing is, lead him to talk about 
it, and draw a picture of it (if you can). Then print 
plainly the name of the object on or below the picture, 
and the start is made. Continue this method of teaching 
names of, and familiar statements about, concrete objects, 
and the child will readily learn to read. 

One of the first mental acts of the child in this process 
is that of associating the printed name or word with the 
sound of the word and the object for which it stands. The 
ordinary primary teacher can secure a helpful suggestion 
from the lessons taught to deaf and dumb children. Such 
children do not usually know, until they enter the formal 
school for such defectives, that each of them has a name. 
They are taken in a group and each one is led in turn to the 
blackboard and required to stand under his own name writ- 
ten thereon while, by means of signs, the others are enabled 
to see the connection. 

Go Slowly. The earliest recitations in reading should 
be characterized by thoroughness. Repeat often and make 
haste slowly. It is a very great advantage, especially to 
the young teacher, if the school authorities have made a 
wise selection of a primary text. If such is not the case 



READING 103 

and a poor text has to be used, let it be supplemented by- 
brief lessons from a good one. The Wooster Primer, for 
example, is almost ideal. The teacher will observe carefully 
some of the excellent features of such a book ; for example,. 
the introduction of few new words at any one time, and 
the frequent repetitions of the words used so that they 
may be learned thoroughly. Of course, a class of begin- 
ners, like all other classes, will be uneven. It is perhaps 
as bad to hold back the quick ones as it is to hurry the 
slow ones. Some means ought to be devised whereby all 
may be given an amount of work proportionate to their 
capacity. How shall it be done ? 

In attempting to answer this question let us introduce the 
discussion of another, viz., that of teaching writing to be- 
ginners. Some able modern authorities are maintaining that 
it is a serious error to have children under eight years of 
age try to learn to write. They claim to be able to show that 
the nerve centers which control the fine movements for writ- 
ing are not well developed until about the eighth year. This 
is no doubt true in many cases. But it is also true that the 
child's nerve centers do not develop and awaken to activity 
in any fixed order. One child may learn to walk long before 
he can pronounce a word distinctly. Others may utter a 
number of words before they can take a single step. Some 
may acquire great dexterity with the hands while the speech 
organs are yet silent ; they can feed themselves, drink from 
a cup, drive a nail, or hold a pencil without assistance 
before they gain any considerable control of the organs of 



104 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

speech. Some can write with more ease and accuracy at 
six than others can at twelve. 

It is suggested, then, that those children who are quick 
at sight reading and at spelling be tested in their ability to 
write, and, if the conditions prove favorable, that they be 
given work in writing as an extra task, even though they 
be under eight years of age. Or, if the members of the 
class are all old enough to write, the ones that prepare the 
reading-lesson with most ease may be given a greater 
amount of writing, or other extra work, than their slower 
classmates, so that their impatience may be held in check. 

The Technique of Reading. It will be necessary to 
give considerable attention to the technique of reading, not 
as a separate, distinct means of discipline but in connection 
with instruction in interpretation. Some time must be given 
to phonics. Introduce the elementary sounds by slow and 
painstaking steps from the beginning of the course on, re- 
quiring mastery of each one before the next is taken up. 
It may be necessary, by means of examples, to show the 
child how to place the organs of speech, but the practice 
of clear, distinct and oft-repeated utterance by the teacher 
will tend to bring the desired results automatically on the 
part of the child. As few of the words of our language are 
spelled phonetically, an acquaintance with some system of 
diacritical marks will be necessary. It is unfortunate for 
all that there is more than one system in use to-day. The 
text in reading will doubtless follow one of the modern sys- 
tems. Make use of that, but do not introduce too many 



READING 105 

marks at one time. Let slow progress and thorough 
famiHarity be the rule. 

Technique and Motive. If the pupil is to master the 
mechanical part of reading he must acquire a motive, such, 
for example, as to obtain information from the printed page 
and to be able to reproduce it and communicate it to others. 
Pure tones, rich qualities of voice, natural modulation, and 
easy, incisive pronunciation are ends to be sought by the 
teacher, but that delicate adjustment of the pupil's organs 
of speech so essential for the attainment of these aims will 
be brought about most satisfactorily only as a result of such 
psychical conditions on the part of the learner as interest, 
and willingness, and desire to obtain and express knowl- 
edge. The feelings and emotions accompanying these better 
psychical conditions will tend to loosen the tense parts 
of the physical mechanism and to beget the desired efifects 
automatically. 

The technical elements of vocal expression are time, pitch, 
quality, and force. Alodern authorities are practically 
agreed that the best results are obtained not by teaching 
these matters as such but by means of the pupil's practice 
in reading orally actual literary selections suited to repre- 
sent them. The teacher's own models of correctness, fre- 
quently given, will serve to guide and inspire the pupil. The 
former is conscious of the specific aim of the lesson, e. g., 
to develop better quality of voice in the latter, and selects his 
model lines accordingly ; but the pupil is simply absorbed 
with interest in the work of reading. He is unconsciously 



106 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

imitating the teacher's correct models and is expressing 
himself. 

"The time given a word or phrase indicates the reader's 
measure of its value," says Professor Raymond in his 
Orator's Manual, "while pitch, or melody, represents the 
mind's motive." This is, unquestionably, good psychology, 
and it emphasizes again the necessity that the pupil's under- 
standing, and hence his feeling and emotion, precede his 
vocal expression. Quality of voice is especially a manifesta- 
tion of feeling and emotion and is acquired best only as a 
natural consequence of them. Force, or stress, exhibits the 
degree of mental energy of the reader, and all artificial 
means of teaching it will prove fruitless. It is needless to 
say that an active, well-directed imagination is a prerequisite 
of good results in expression. 

The Spirit of the Lesson. It is earnestly advised that 
in teaching reading the teacher guard against letting the 
letter of the law overshadow its spirit. It is often exceed- 
ingly profitable to devote one half of the lesson period to a 
discussion with the pupils, from their point of view, of the 
contents of the reading-lesson. Unless they can appreciate 
the subject-matter of the lesson, and live out in imagination 
then and there its meaning, there will be simply a mechan- 
ical pronunciation of the words. The monotonous, unnat- 
ural mode of expression often heard in the reading-class is 
a pretty certain indication that the reader does not appre- 
ciate the meaning of the words he is pronouncing, 

It is especially difficult to develop in children a true appre- 



READING 107 

elation of the spirit of poetry. Few teachers seem to be 
equal to the task. Many young pupils who read prose 
selections well will literally sing the poetic stanzas, placing 
the emphasis in such a manner as to make the thought 
appear nonsensical, and to betray utter lack of appreciation. 
How vividly the author recalls the tune to which third- 
reader pupils of his district-school days read Longfellow's 

Tell me not in mournful numbers 

Life is but an empty dream, 
For the soul is dead that slumbers. 

And things are not what they seem. 

Each pupil rose in turn and ran up the first line and down 
the second, then up the third line and down the fourth, and 
so on without variation to the end of the poem. The teacher 
seemed to place a great deal of value upon speed, so there 
was an open race for the end of the stanza. Children have 
a natural fondness for the rhythm of poetry, and they often 
seem willing to violate every other principle of reading in 
order to bring out this one. For example, they will place 
all the emphasis on an important word at the end of the 
line and obscure the word that gives the sentence its very 
life and meaning. This sing-song reading is doubtless 
somewhat enjoyed by pupils on account of its meter and 
rhythm, just as the singing of a song, the words of which 
they fail to understand, may be. As a means of correcting 
this monotonous manner it is suggested that considerable 
time be given to paraphrasing the poetic lines. Require 
pupils in so doing to follow the natural order of the parts 



108 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

of the sentence. Grammatical analysis of the sentences also 
will be found helpful. 

Criticism by Pupils. How many thousand teachers in 
this land are conducting the reading-lesson about as follows ! 
The members of the class arise and read in turn, each one 
striving to read rapidly and without mispronouncing a 
word. After the reader is seated there is a show of hands 
and the teacher calls, "Jo^^""y ?" "Called 'a' 'the,' " says 
Johnny. "Jennie?" "Called 'and' 'but' and left out 'had.'" 
"Thomas?" "He hesitated." After a hasty recitation en- 
tirely of this nature the pupils trot off to their seats with a 
feeling that the task has been well done. But the whole 
trouble lies with the teacher, who is giving too much atten- 
tion to the relatively unimportant. It is not a question of 
the pupil's reading rapidly and without omitting or mis- 
pronouncing any words. Does he enter into the spirit of the 
selection and express its meaning in clear, distinct tones and 
with proper emphasis and feeling? Rather than waste pre- 
cious time in hearing criticisms so trivial as those illustrated 
above, allow none at all. Even a good reader will mispro- 
nounce a few familiar words and hesitate occasionally. 

The Teacher's Opportunity. There is perhaps no other 
subject in the whole curriculum that offers half as many 
opportunities for the teacher to develop character as does 
the reading-lesson, and he who fails to seize these oppor- 
tunities is missing the mark of his high calling. Every 
shade of sentiment and every kind of human conduct is 
likely to come up for consideration. Education means 



EEADING 109 

leading out or drawing out. The tactful drawing out of 
the pupil's judgments by means of questions and discus- 
sions, and the art of leaving in the latter's mind the right 
inferences — these two arts constitute much of the fruitful 
work of the real teacher of reading. 

A good many years ago there was used in the schools an 
old third reader which contained the story of the swan that 
had a broken wing and could not fly away with its mates, 
but was compelled to pass a year alone in a desolate place. 
One teacher, a young man, took his class through this lesson 
and saw that all the words were pronounced correctly, but 
the real merit of the story was little heeded by either teacher 
or pupils. The next term a little schoolma'am was in 
charge of that small district band of learners. The same 
old swan story was read by the third-reader class, and there 
were a number of moist eyes among the members when 
they came to the passage which read, "Far 'up like a letter 
V drawn against the sky flew a flock of swans. Our poor 
crippled swan knew them well, for the cry of the leader was 
plainly heard." The little teacher had not said much, but 
she had directed the thought of the pupils carefully, and 
the proper sentiment in behalf of the helpless dumb crea- 
tures was inculcated. Thus incidentally this worthy young 
woman w^as engaged in the work of character-building. 

Supplementary Reading. On this subject there now 
need be but little written. Love will find a way. In this 
age of plentifulness of cheap but valuable books the young 
person who has been properly trained to get at the real 



110 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

essence of the reading-lesson will naturally find his way to 
the shelves where the books are to be obtained. In case 
of a rural school, where there is not yet the beginning 
of a library and no supplementary reading-matter at hand, 
the teacher can do nothing worthier than to arouse public 
sentiment in regard to the matter. By w^riting to the pub- 
lishers of almost any of the ordinary text-books one can 
secure catalogues containing long lists of titles of inex- 
pensive but desirable classics, and other volumes. In order 
to secure the nucleus of a district-school library the first 
small sum of money raised might be expended with an 
assurance of profitable returns, for the following dozen 
books: Evangeline (Longfellow), Vicar of Wakefield 
(Goldsmith), The Story of the Chosen People (Guerber), 
The Book of Golden Deeds (Young), Green Fields and 
Running Brooks (Riley), David Copperiield (Dickens), 
Wild Animals I Have Knozvn (Thompson-Seton), Auto- 
biography (Franklin), Enoch Arden (Tennyson), The 
Sketch Book (Irving), Tales from Shakespeare (Lamb). 



REFERENCES 



1 Hinsdale: Teaching the Language Arts (Appleton) ; Ch. VIII, 

"Teaching Reading as Thought." 

2 Smith: Systematic Methodology (Silver, Burdett) ; Ch. VIII, 

"Eeading." 

II 

1 Clark: How to Teach Beading (Scott, Foresman) ; Ch. V, "Tho 

Mental Attitude of the Reader." 

2 RowE: Physical Nature of the Child (Maemillan; Ch. VI, 

"Enunciation." 

Ill 

1 Arnold: Selections from (Holt) ; chapter on "Nature in English 

Poetry." 

2 Marsland: Interpretative Eeading (Longmans, Green). This 

whole book is worth reading, as it gives many excellent selec- 
tions, each listed under its appropriate psychological heading. 



m 



CHAPTER IX 

LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION 

Language. It may be said that there are two aspects of 
the work of language-teaching in the pubhc schools, viz., 
the constructive and the reconstructive, or corrective. That 
is, much of the teacher's attention must be devoted both to 
directing the pupil in the acquisition of new, correct forms 
of expression, and in the discontinuance of old, erroneous 
ones that have become thoroughly habitual. 

The Aims of Constructive Language-Teaching. Some 
of the ends to be realized in the child in case of direct 
language-training ar« an increase of vocabulary, readiness 
and facility of expression, and clearness and precision of 
style. Incidentally the pupil may also be made acquainted 
with some of the simplest elements of grammar and com- 
position. In fact, the formal work of both of these subjects 
may be approached gradually by means of the instruction in 
language. 

The Lesson Plan. The teacher must have clearly in 
mind some purpose to be accomplished in case of every les- 
son. For example, assuming a class of 2 B pupils, the work 
may be begun by selecting some familiar object about which 
the learners are to try to form a number of coherent sen- 
tences. Avoid dry, abstract topics, and choose rather some- 

112 



LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION 113 

thing in which children have a Hving interest. Good mod- 
els of coherent groups of sentences to be brought out about 
some familiar topic may be found in the best model school 
readers, such as the Silver-Burdett Series. For illustra- 
tion, Donald Eyer's big St. Bernard dog Ted is a daily 
playfellow of the school-children. So the teacher announces, 
"We will now see what we can say about Donald's dog 
Ted." Helen then begins : "Ted is a big dog," and Harold 
follows with "Ted likes to play." By means of a little guid- 
ance the pupils are led to substitute "he" for "Ted" as the 
subject of the second sentence. Continuing in this manner, 
the teacher soon elicits from each member of the class one 
or more grammatical statements or questions about the 
given topic. The sentences may then be written on the 
board in the order that seems most suitable.* 

Additional Topics and Methods. Topics for further 
lessons or for more advanced pupils will be readily chosen 
by the teacher. To develop the use of is and are; of 
zvere and was; of this and that and their JDlurals ; of your 
and my, our and their; and finally the singular and plural 
forms of any given noun or verb — each of these is suggested 
as a suitable lesson plan. After considerable practice in 
real sentence-construction, the pupils may be asked to bring 
the sentences to class in written form. Thus composition 
is begun. 

For more advanced work take such a statement as "Birds 

• Instead of familiar olijects, whicli are not always available as topics 
for sentence-building, some have found it very profitable to substitute 
pictures. For this purpose the Terry rictures will furnish good, ines- 
Dt-nsive materials. 



114 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

sing," and after developing the idea of subject and predi- 
cate, require the pupils to produce adjuncts, or modifiers of 
both. By the aid of ruler, blackboard drawings, and famil- 
iar objects, teach the use of words denoting geometrical 
forms and relations ; for example, such words as square, 
round, opposite, adjacent, larger, longer, vertical, parallel 
and perpendicular. In all this work and that suggested 
above, have a specific purpose to be accomplished by each 
lesson ; then proceed slowly, helping the pupil to correct his 
own errors rather than bluntly correcting them for him. 

Reconstructive, or Corrective, Language-Teaching. 
Notwithstanding our many schools and our much training 
in the use of the mother tongue, we hear every day many 
violations of the principles of good usage in oral expres- 
sion. In the rural districts of our country and in the 
so-called Middle West, these violations are, perhaps, com- 
monest. Culture for its own sake is not so highly thought 
of in these localities as it is, for example, in the New 
England States. There are really two languages — one of 
the press, having strict conformity to a set of fixed rules ; 
and one of the populace, tending to be a sort of law unto 
itself. The latter is characterized by (i) much slang, 
the most of which has its brief day of popularity and then 
becomes obsolete; (2) slurred, elided, and otherwise broken 
expressions; and (3) direct violations of the laws of 
English grammar. 

Imitation. One's language forms are acquired almost 
wholly by imitation. The child just learning to talk repeats 



LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION 115 

as best he can the words he hears used, whether they arc 
correct or incorrect. Language habits are formed very 
early and soon become fixed by constant use so that they 
are difficult to change. The child that says to the teacher, 
"I ain't got no book," reveals in this sentence much as 
regards the expressions he has been hearing and imitating 
up to that time. Moreover, the experienced teacher knows 
only too well that it will be many a day before this child 
discontinues his distorted speech forms and substitutes 
correct English therefor. There are two reasons why 
marked reformations will be difficult : ( i ) The child wnll 
probably continue to hear the erroneous expressions at home 
and to imitate them there, and (2) he has already by this 
time developed at the speech centers structures in the nerve 
cells which will make these objectionable forms very easy 
and natural of use. 

The Problem Stated. The problem of the teacher, 
then, in giving language-instruction to pupils that are accus- 
tomed to incorrect forms wall lie at the root of neural habit. 
Corresponding to the child's much-used expression, "I ain't 
got none," there is a nerve-cell arrangement that persists 
in staying as it is. And although the child may be willing 
to be taught to say, "I haven't any," and he may even 
intend to make the correction permanent, the very nature 
of the case is against him, for one simply cannot be at 
all times conscious of the form of his expressions when it 
is the mind's chief business to be conscious of their mean- 
ing. And so the well-meaning child will soon be off his 



116 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

guard and the old familiar expression flow out freely as 
ever. 

It would seem, then, that the only mode of offense — for 
one must make an attack upon these bad speech forms — 
is to force a place for the new expressions in the child's 
nerve cells by means of numerous and frequent repetitions. 
Cause the child to repeat many times and to hear repeated 
by others many more times the "I haven't any," until it 
tends to linger in his consciousness. It must become second 
nature to him through repetition. Unfortunately the over- 
coming of one error of this kind does not give much assist- 
ance in the attack upon the next — except perhaps in an 
increasing habit of attention to such work. So, '*I seen 
them boys fighting," will have to be dealt with in the same 
firm manner as "I ain't got none." 

Oral Teaching. The language-teaching in the un- 
graded schools will in many instances have to be incidental 
to instruction in other branches. An overcrowded pro- 
gram in such schools usually forbids the formation of 
separate language classes. But much of value can be accom- 
plished in an incidental way provided the teacher be ever 
vigilant in regard to the matter. In the first place, he him- 
self must be master of a good style. He must at least pos- 
sess habits of good, unaffected expression, even though 
he may lack somewhat in fluency and in extent of vocabu- 
lary. In the second place, he must insist at all times on 
full, correct, and forcible expressions on the part of the 
pupils. It is exceedingly common as well as distressing 



LANGUAGE AKD COMPOSITION 117 

to find that public-school teachers do much of the talking 
that ought to be done by their pupils. To do so is really 
the easiest way to conduct a recitation if one is in a hurry, 
and so the habit is easily formed. Pupils seem naturally 
to hang back and wait for questions that can be answered by 
"yes" or "no" or a grunt or a nod. The successful teacher 
makes his pupils do the talking. 

Stir Them Up. The average schoolroom atmosphere 
is not conducive to quick, forcible oral expressions, sur- 
charged as it is with poisonous gases and depleted of its 
oxygen. As a consequence, the pupils tend to be more or 
less sluggish of blood and brain, and hence slow of speech. 
But after the atmospheric conditions have been made as 
favorable as possible the members of the class reciting must 
be stirred to action both singly and in groups. By repeat- 
edly selecting out a sluggish or backward member and hold- 
ing him to the point of the question until he has expressed 
himself to his fullest capacity, the teacher can soon lead the 
whole group to infer that it pays to speak up pointedly 
and express oneself. It is both conceivable and advisable 
that during the first days of the new term half of the time 
for recitations be taken up with just this 'sort of wrestling 
with language problems. The reward for this persistent 
effort on the part of the teacher will shortly become appar- 
ent, for under such pressure pupils soon fall into habits 
of full oral expression. 

The Problem Twofold. The language problem now 
becomes twofold. It is a matter not merely of replacing old, 



118 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

objectionable expressions with new, desirable ones, but also 
of the imitation of forms entirely new to the pupils. The 
observing teacher can soon become acquainted with the 
limits of his pupils' vocabularies. He will often, also, 
become conscious of his own use of expressions which 
he knows to be new to them. Such expressions, if brought 
into unusual prominence by a little extra emphasis of some 
kind, will be imitated by pupils. After a few repetitions of 
these new forms the careful teacher will be rewarded with 
the pleasure of noting their incorporation in the pupils' 
vocabularies. 

Language comes before grammar, which is at best a 
sort of necessary evil. The better and the more fluent the 
language of every-day practice the less will be the effort nec- 
essary to master the rules of technical grammar. The best 
rule of common usage is that which requires simple, direct, 
forcible statements with little attempt at embellishment and 
no affectation of voice or manner. 

Written Composition. A certain boy fifteen years of 
age had never been required consciously to compose a single 
paragraph, when very unexpectedly his teacher announced 
that "each member of the class must write an original 
composition of three hundred words for to-morrow's reci- 
tation." This youth was not only surprised but stunned, 
for no outline, no hint as to method of procedure, not even 
a subject on which to write, was given. He worried much 
over the selection of a subject for his essay, but finally 
"Education" was decided upon and the real work begun. 



LANGUAGE Ai\D COMPOSITION 119 

Then he wrote, "Education is a good thing," and stopped 
short, exhausted and entirely empty of further ideas on 
the subject. After staring long at the blank page, the 
distressed young man tore it to pieces and made a new 
start. This time he wrote in a more careful hand (thankful 
that at least the penmanship w^orked better), "Education 
is a good thing," and stuck again. No bolstering up of 
the broken-down vehicle of thought would make it run any 
further. The attempt was given up in disgust and the poor 
boy stayed in at recess on the morrow as a punishment 
for failure, or rather for the teacher's ignorance. 

The foregoing story is indicative of a very common situa- 
tion existing to-day in reference to composition-teaching 
in rural schools of many of the states. An untrained teacher 
is requiring work of a pupil for which the latter has had 
little or no preparation. As a consequence the undertaking 
is both unpleasant and unprofitable. Two suggestions are 
offered here: (i) The teacher who is called upon to give 
instruction in composition as a part of the ordinary routine 
of school work may, himself, never have had any formal 
instruction in the subject. There are many such cases 
to-day. In such an emergency he must take a home course 
in the subject or most probably fail in his efforts to 
teach it.* (2) If the pupil has not been prepared for 
formal work in composition writing, some introductory 
exercises must be given even though he has arrived at a 
. suitable age for beginning the advanced work. 

• For home study "Elementary English Composition," by Scott and 
Denney (AUyn and Bacon, Chicago), and "Elements of English Compo- 
sition," by T. F. Huntington (Macmillan, New Yorlij, are recommended. 



130 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

When and How to Begin. Rather than be forced to 
rush at a difficult task as was attempted by the youth in 
the story related above, the pupil should be led up to the 
work of formal composition-writing by steps so gradual that 
he never knows precisely when he arrives there. If the 
crowded course of study does not admit of regular lan- 
guage-teaching in the lower classes, it is perhaps best to 
attain the purpose desired by introducing written work in 
connection with some other subject, say reading. The first 
lessons may be such as were outlined in the first division 
of this chapter. But the mere beginner cannot be expected 
to make much headway until he has found a motive for 
the work, and this means that he must have in mind a 
subject about which he desires to write, together with 
the impression that somebody desires to learn about it from 
him. He is then in a mental attitude suitable for the task 
of writing. For the young writer, therefore, the problem is 
twofold, viz., how to get possession of suitable ideas for 
expression, and how to express these ideas so that they 
may appeal favorably to some one else. 

Choosing a Theme. The first important step in com- 
position-writing is the choice of a subject and subsequently 
of a theme. Young students are not at all capable of 
doing this important preliminary work for themselves, nor 
are high-school students, without having had special train- 
ing in the matter. The subject is general and may admit 
of many forms of treatment, while the theme is particular 
and is suggestive, perhaps, of but one. "Crossing the Des- 



LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION 121 

ert," may be a somewhat more euphonious title for a compo- 
sition than "A Trip by Rail across the Nevada Desert," 
but the latter is certainly more nearly a real theme, for it 
suggests at once something of a definite nature. 

In the task of assisting pupils in the choice of a theme 
the teacher must consider the several natures and experi- 
ences of the young writers. How have they lived and 
thought and worked thus far? What concrete meanings 
have they already got out of their experience ? What types 
of conduct and character appeal to them as being of most 
worth and therefore as contributing to their ideals? The 
teacher who would make composition a living, inspiring 
subject rather than a dull, wearisome one must be directed 
in the selection of suitable themes by means of finding this 
personal side of his pupils' natures. Even that big, bash- 
ful, awkward boy is thoroughly familiar with some matter 
about which he can talk and even write entertamingly. 
Find it and draw him out on the subject. Do not be con- 
cerned at first about the crudeness of his expressions, pro- 
vided only that you have tapped this rich vein of personal 
knowledge. 

A Definite Plan. After the theme has been chosen 
always start out to accomplish some definite purpose. The 
author agrees with Huntington in the opinion that pupils 
"must be taught to feel fully and vividly, and that, too, at 
the very entrance of their work in composition, that writing 
deals primarily with ideas rather than words, with what one 
has to say rather than how he is to say it ; and that they 



X32 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

themselves have already an abundance of fresh, entertain- 
ing ideas, peculiarly their own, which they can put into their 
school themes." After this vein of ideas has been discov- 
ered, as suggested above, and the theme chosen, the writer 
must be made more conscious of the specific purpose and 
the general plan of the theme. For example, he is required 
to describe some particular object from some particular 
point of view and for the purpose of interesting some par- 
ticular audience. It is true, in most cases, that the young 
essayist has an abundance of fresh ideas, but the definite 
theme-plan is necessary in order to direct him in the selec- 
tion and use of only pertinent ideas. Under this mode 
of procedure no theme topic is too commonplace for 
consideration. 

Practice and Habit. The best writer is least conscious 
of the restraining influence of rules. While the beginner is 
merely finding this new written mode of self-expression, all 
unnecessary restrictions should be withheld from him. He 
must first acquire the habit of expressing himself in the 
new manner by means of much practice. After he has 
got his general bearings, as outlined above, practice 
is the next important matter. As practice precedes and 
underlies habit, so habit, and consequent ease and facility 
of expression, must precede complete interest and enthusi- 
asm. Once rouse the two mental attitudes last named, and 
the pupil will readily submit to priming and criticism, but 
it is a very easy matter to frighten the young writer into 
silence and even stubbornness by too much red ink and 



LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION 123 

too Strict application of rules. Such matters as choice of 
words, sentence-structure, and paragraph-unity will become 
of interest to the pupil after the start just recommentled 
has been made, for they then appear to him as further 
means of facilitating the work of which he has already 
become fond. 

Outlining the Theme. Another important step in com- 
position-teaching is outlining. This work should be done 
carefully and in the presence of the class. While the 
teacher may have the outline pretty well in mind, he can 
easily afford to make a new one on the blackboard, and to 
incorporate within it as many suggestions from the class 
as possible. Let the pupils feel that they have a part in 
making the outline, and they will take greater interest in 
writing the composition. The main subtopics should be 
arranged in logical order. One half the work and more 
than half the worry are over when the subject has been 
logically outlined. So it is urged that teachers proceed 
slowly and help the pupils to make careful outlines of at 
least the first half-dozen topics. Then the pupil may attempt 
to make one of his own and hand it in for correction. In 
case of a lengthy dissertation — which should seldom be 
required of classes below the second year of the high school 
— it is a good plan to havQ one subdivision written for 
each day's consideration. After this, the whole may be 
woven together in revised and corrected form. 

The outline serves two very important purposes for the 
pupil: (i) It guides him in a logical arrangement of his 



124 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

thought. (2) It furnishes suggestions for the details of the 
composition. Herewith are given a few suggestive outHnes : 

WHAT CONSTITUTES A GOOD MEAL 
I The Bill of Farf 

1 Meats. 

2 Vegetables. 

3 Drinks. 

4 Desserts. 
II The Preparation. 

1 The Cooks and the Utensils. 

2 The Modes of Cooking Certain Foods. 
Ill The Serving. 

1 The Waiters. 

2 Part Taken by Host and Hostess. 
rv The Dining-Room. 

1 Tableware, Linen, Etc. 

2 Furniture and Decorations. 
V The Company. 

1 Of Whom Constituted. 

2 Eefined Manners. 

3 Good Cheer. 

4 Lively Conversation. 

This outline may suggest slight digressions from the main 
topic. Such digressions are intended, however. The youth 
is too much inclined to think he is through with describing 
a good meal as soon as he has made out the menu. 

THE IDEAL YOUNG MAN 
I Personal Appearance. 

1 Complexion. 

2 Height. 

3 Weight, Carriage, Etc. 
II Dress and Manners. 

1 Character of Clothes. 

a For Work. 
b For Society. 

2 Gentlemanly Conduct and Politeness. 



LANGUAGE AND ( (JMi OSITION 135 

III Disposition. 

1 Sympathy for Others. 

2 Control of Passions. 

3 Cheerfulness in Depressing Circumstances. 

4 Courage in Meeting Obstacles. 
rv Character as a Student. 

1 Preparation of Lessons. 

2 Manner of Reciting. 

3 Application of Lessons Learned. 

V Attitude Toward Work and Recreation. 

1 Separation of the Two. 

2 Courageous and Systematic Manner of Working. 

3 Enjoyment of a Vacation. 

4 Relation to Athletic Sports. 

A similar outline may be made on "The Ideal Young 
Woman." Each* pupil may be required to write on the one 
pertaining to the opposite sex. 

The Recitation Period. It is needless to say that the 
skill of the teacher in conducting the recitation of the com- 
position class is a very important matter, especially with 
beginners. As such pupils are usually lacking in self-con- 
fidence in this subject, it is well to overlook all but the most 
flagrant errors made in the first written efforts, and to oft'er 
favorable criticism whenever possible as a mere matter of 
encouragement. One of the best composition teachers ever 
known to the author required, during the first month or 
more, merely that the simple rules of procedure heretofore 
outlined be observed and that manuscripts present a 
neat appearance, certain simple, mechanical details being 
observed ; such, for example, as those regarding the top and 
marginal spaces, and the capitalization of important words 
in the subiect. 



136 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

It pays to spend all the time that can possibly be spared 
in hearing the compositions read before the class. Thus 
pupils are given the opportunity to learn much from one 
another, and they are not at all slow in taking advantage 
of the opportunity. They may also be taught to criticise 
both favorably and adversely the written work of others. 
The teacher must not forget to elicit favorable comments 
by pupils upon one another's work ; and he himself should 
have great aptitude in singling out the best features of every 
paper read. A happy choice of words, a nice distinction in 
the thought, a clear mode of phrasing — all such points of 
merit may be made much of and brought to the attention 
of the class. Correct and criticise manuscripts with ref- 
erence to only one important matter at a time. Pupils will 
then gradually eliminate many of their own errors without 
the use of red ink. 

Gathering Material. It is admitted that, while the 
pupil possesses sufficient ideas to serve the purposes of the 
mere rudiments of composition-writing, he will in time have 
to acquire the art of gathering material. The fund of 
knowledge of any subject, possessed by the pupil, is nec- 
essarily disorganized and fragmentary. Enough has per- 
haps been said about logical arrangement of the parts of the 
simple composition, so it remains now to suggest that the 
work of gathering materials be introduced gradually. The 
task becomes one of more clearly perceiving objects and of 
more logically relating facts. So the pupil may be directed 
in specific ways to go to the sources of knowledge. He 



LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION 127 

may be asked, for example, to re-examine an object with 
a view to describing it more accurately, or to re-witness, 
if possible, an event in order to narrate it, or to gather 
data by means of reading and inquiry. Careful resifting 
and rearranging of these materials must be required. One 
caution may be offered : It is easily possible to kill the 
spirit and interest in elementary composition-writing by 
requiring too much of this kind of preparation. 

Study Good Examples. After a fair start has been 
made and the members of the class have become more inter- 
ested in the work and more confident of their ability to 
write, it is well to examine with them some of the best 
available specimens of the traditional forms of literature. 
The well-known classics serve this purpose. In connec- 
tion with the examination of good literature, some technical 
study of the sentence and the paragraph may be introduced. 
Such matters as the clearness, the effectiveness, and the 
coherence of the sentence may be taught better by example 
than by definition. The central idea, the unity, the length 
and the smoothness of the paragraph may be taught in the 
same manner. The pupils' knowledge of these technical 
matters comes by slow degrees through first-hand acquaint- 
ance and imitation. Abstract rules and definitions will be 
of little assistance. 

Just as the child may acquire the ability to speak good 
English without knowing the rules of grammar, so may 
the young writer become relatively proficient in the use 
of description, narration, exposition, and argumentation 



128 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

without having become acquainted with their technique. 
These various forms of composition may be brought out 
merely by the careful selection of themes. In order to bring 
about a closer acquaintance, it is well first to define the form 
to be considered and then to study carefully some good 
specimens of the same as found in literature. 

After the pupil has become familiar with the characteristic 
method of each of the four traditional kinds of composition, 
his practice may go on pretty much as before ; only now he 
is more than ever conscious of the manner in which he is to 
express his ideas. 

Topics for Themes. It will, of course, be made appar- 
ent to the pupil that a literary production may make use 
of two or more of the four forms of composition, and that 
it is the exception, rather than the rule, for a writer to 
confine himself exclusively to one of them. Below are 
given some classified topics for short themes. 

Description 

1 Write a number of short notices suitable for the "want 
column" of a daily paper: (a) House for Rent; (b) 
Office Boy Wanted; (c) For Sale or Exchange; (d) 
Lost, a Pet Dog ; (e) Opportunity for Investment. 

2 (a) The Landscape as Viewed from My Window; 
(b) Cattle Grazing in a Distant Pasture; (c) A Small 
Stream with Borders of Ledges and Tree-clumps ; (d) 
A Fruit Orchard in Full Blossom; (e) Birds Singing at 
Daybreak. 



LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION 129 

3 (a) A Distant Snow-covered Mountain Range; (b) 
The Niagara Fall Cataract as Seen from the Rocks Above ; 
(c) The Appearance of the Ocean During a Storm; (d) 
The Sky at Sunset; (e) A Dew-covered Meadow at 
Sunrise. 

4 (a) The Physical Appearance of a Tramp You Have 
Seen; (b) The Most Amiable Person You Know; (c) 
The Face and Manner of One You Love; (d) A Vain, 
Affected Young Person; (e) A Dirty-faced, Two-year-old 
Boy Crying. 

Narration 

1 (a) Waiting for a Train at the Railway Station; 
(b) What Happened on the Way Home from School ; (c) 
A Building on Fire; (d) Yesterday's Baseball Game; (e) 
The Most Exciting Experience of my Life ; (f) My Long- 
est Journey; (g) At the Old Swimming Hole; (h) The 
Monotonous Events of a Day; (i) A Boy in a Hornet's 
Nest; (j) At the Party Last Night; (k) What Con- 
stitutes a Good Meal; (1) A Brief Story of My Life. 

2 [Imaginative] (a) A Message from the Morning 
'Star; (b) If the Sun Should Stand Still; (c) From 

Hong-Kong to Chicago by Airship; (d) Digging through 
the Earth to China; (e) Story Told by an Old Horse; 
(f) Lost in the Mountains [or Forest] ; (g) A Ship- 
wreck; (h) How I found my Way through a Great 
City; (i) A Home Among the Ants; (j) A Terrible 
Catastrophe [Tornado, Fire, Earthquake]. 



130 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

Exposition 

1 [Boys] (a) Caring for a Horse; (b) How to 
Build a House; (c) How to Raise Good Corn ; (d) The 
Best Way to Make Money on a Farm; (e) Essentials of 
Success in the Mercantile Business; (f) What Makes 
Football Exciting; (g) How to Manage a Sailboat; (h) 
Making a Bow and Arrow; (i) How to Sell Papers; (j) 
The Art of Hunting. 

2 [Girls] (a) Keeping the House in Order; (b) 
Caring for Flowers; (c) Art of Preparing a Meal ; (d) 
Making Pumpkin Pies; (e) Success in Giving a Party; 
(f) Outdoor Exercise for Girls; (g) Making Doll Clothes; 
(h) Hemstitching a Handerchief ; (i) Points that Win in 
Basketball Players; (j) How to keep from Gossiping. 

3 [Both Sexes] (a) The Art of Forming Friendships ; 
(b) An Ideal Young Man [or Young Woman] ; (c) How a 
Man's Work Differs from a Woman's; (d) Considerate 
Treatment of the Aged; (e) How I Expect to Realize my 
Ambition. 

Argumentation 

I (a) Write a letter to the Board of Education giving 
a detailed argument in favor of a larger and better play- 
ground, (b) Make out a list of reasons for pupils' "sup- 
porting the teacher in his efforts to govern the school, (c) 
Which is the worse evil, theft or lying? Give ten points 
in behalf of your opinion, (d) In what several respects 
is a literary society beneficial to a school? (e) A bright 



LAMUUAGE Ai\D COMPOSlTlOiN' 131 

young high-school freshman is about to give up school 
permanently for a place in the business world. Write a 
lengthy letter appealing to him to remain in school. 

2 (a) Is It Better to Have Separate Playgrounds for 
Boys and Girls? (b) Can Final Examinations be Dis- 
pensed With? (c) Should Pupils Have a Part in the 
Government of the School? (d) Is Country Life Prefer- 
able to City Life for Young People? (e) Should the 
Game of Football Be Allowed in the Public Schools? 



REFERENCES 



1 Smith-Thomas: Composition and Ehetoric (Sanborn & Co.). 

Introductory chapter. 

2 Scott & Denny: Elementary Composition (AUyn & Bacon); Ch. 

I, "Oral Composition." 

II 

1 Compayre: Psychology Applied to Education (Heath); Ch. I, 

"Oral Exposition and Interpretation." 

2 Cairns : Introduction to Rhetoric (Ginn) ; Ch. II, "Language 

Adapted to the Needs of the Keader." 

Ill 

1 Jordan : Correct Writing and SpeaTcing (Barnes) ; Ch. II, "The 

Spoken and Written Word." 

2 Bates: Talks on Writing English (Houghton, Mifflin); Lecture 

I, "The Art of Writing." 

3 Wendell: English Composition (Scribner's) ; Ch. I, "Elements 

and Qualities of Style." 



132 



CHAPTER X 

ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS 

Numbers. Children, as a rule, quickly learn counting 
as such practice seems to fascinate them. Perhaps the chief 
fault of the ordinary teacher is not in the method used 
but in the rapid progress attempted. The power of the 
child to understand numbers comes gradually and con- 
comitantly with other forms of mental activity. A wide 
experience in dealing with situations and objects and people 
will furnish a good basis for the beginning of numbers. In 
other words, the child who has had this manifold experi- 
ence is capable of thinking of many concrete objects in 
relation to other objects, and these relations are often neces- 
sarily numerical. It is well, therefore, not to hasten the 
work of teaching numbers. Give the child time and oppor- 
tunity to accumulate a wide range of juvenile experience 
and he will approach the subject of numbers with a rich 
fund of ideas more or less mathematical in their nature. 
Thus some of the so-called first problems in teaching num- 
bers will disappear. The child will already know, for 
example, that numbers are not things and not qualities in 
things. If he wishes to count while yet a baby, let him 
do so, and direct him rather indifferently in the matter ; 
but it is too early to make the work at all serious for him. 

133 



134 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

Make the First Lessons Concrete. Children usually 
enjoy keenly the mere rhythm of abstract, consecutive count- 
ing from one to a hundred. But the ultimate reference of 
numbers is to concrete things, and it is advisable to begin 
dealing with such things numerically from the very start. 
Let the learner count apples or books or boys or girls, and 
at the same time acquire some knowledge of addition and 
subtraction. The same psychological principle applies here 
as in teaching reading. The subject-matter should be of 
vital concern to his little mind. "How many kitties have 
you at home?" was the first mathematical problem pro- 
pounded to a small six-year-old boy. "We did have six, 
but one of them died and now we have only five," was 
the ready solution given. How much better are such little 
concrete problems than are the purely abstract ones ! Every 
child in the beginners' class, if old enough to undertake the 
subject understandingly, is able to make some such calcula- 
tion as the one about the kittens. An undersized boy of 
eight just entering school was thought to be very backward 
in numbers until it was learned that he had spent the greater 
part of his life with his father in a fishing-boat. He was 
then found to possess an interesting fund of mathematical 
knowledge about the daily experiences of fishermen. 

Instinct for Counting. There is doubtless a racial 
instinct for counting, which is a practice that has long been 
advantageous to mankind and hence an agency of progress. 
This instinct, like most others, brings pleasure with its 
indulgence. As the child learns to count he realizes a sense 



ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS 135 

of his power to make things subservient to his will and his 
little practical needs. But it is the tendency to count, and 
not the numerical concept, that is instinctive in the child. 
The latter comes only through relating things, and this 
implies an act of discrimination or analysis. A specific 
object before the senses does not mean specific knowledge 
in the mind as a result. Three cubes may lie in plam view 
of the child, but that fact gives no assurance of their cogni- 
tion by him. He must be able to see these objects as sepa- 
rate units in a larger whole, or group. The teacher, as 
director, but not necessarily the child, must be conscious 
of the process here involved. 

A Definite Aim. Even in the case of beginners in 
counting or measuring, the teacher must set out to accom- 
plish something definite. The child's first consciousness of 
objects is of wholes or groups, and the second step is 
naturally one of analysis. The problem may be one of 
enumerating the windows in a room or the squares in a 
table top. In every such case the young mind passes from 
knowledge of the whole (unity) to knowledge of the parts 
(units). Finally the mind reverts to the object first attended 
to, the whole. Out of this forward and backward process 
the child gradually develops his conception of number. 

Start out, then, to count or measure something concrete 
rather than to count abstractly. It is perhaps better to 
have a unit of measurement which will itself yield readily 
to analysis. Take, say, twelve crayons and arrange them 
in four groups of three each, or a gallon measure and four 



136 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

quart measures. Let the child count the number of measur- 
ing units (groups) in the whole number of crayons, or the 
number of units (quart measures) filled from the whole gal- 
lon measure. Now, the psychological order of movement 
of the learner's mind would be (i) to observe and name 
the whole (dozen crayons or gallon measure) ; (2) to 
observe and name the measuring units (groups or quart 
measures), and (3) to recognize the fact that the units 
of measure in either case are identical. The third step 
is really one of analysis of the unit. Each group or bunch 
of crayons seems to consist of three, and each quart measure 
to be of the same size, or to contain two pints. 

Developing the Abstract. While it is both advisable 
and possible to begin the work of counting with familiar, 
concrete things, it is an easy matter to draw the child- 
mind aside by slow degrees into abstract conceptions. It 
is necessary to do so if the work is to go on rapidly, and 
to continue to teach numbers concretely too long is just 
as erroneous as to continue the use of baby-foods for bodily 
nourishment too long. It will soon be seen that what the 
child needs is much practice in performing the simple 
arithmetical operations. Give him rapidly and repeatedly 
all the possible combinations of the digits taken two at a 
time, together with all possible subtractions of the same. 
The child must know that 7-1-5=12, and know it at once 
and without effort. When he once knows this fact thor- 
oughly he will not be conscious during the operation of 
adding seven sticks and five sticks, or seven and five any- 
thing else. But while the addition is being performed 



ELEMENTAEY MATHEMATICS 137 

automatically he will most probably have an image of how 
the figures look when seen, or how their names sound 
when spoken. 

And now comes a test of the teacher's ability to direct 
the pupils in this work with the minimum of time and effort, 
and the secret of success lies in teaching the child to drill 
himself by carefully going over the process again and again. 
This is the latter's first lesson in method. In this 
connection the i-io and 11-20 combinations may be learned: 

(1) 



(2) 



The child must (i) be shown carefully how to find the 
answer by counting some such things as pencil marks, and 
(2) be induced to go over the problem in mind several 
times rapidly so as to fix it there. To go on to the next 
problem immediately after securing one answer by con- 
crete counting may be the most natural thing to do, but it 
is also the wrong thing. The point that tells here is to think 
the problem as a unit, so that it may be fixed in memory. 
There must be a clear image of how 7+5 either looks or 
sounds, or both. An actual investigation will show, I 
believe, that more children depend upon the auditory than 
depend upon the visual image in numbers. Let the teacher 



1. 
1' 


r. 

2' 


1 
3' 


2. 

2' 


1 
4' 


2. 

3' 


1 

5' 


2 

4' 


3- 
3' 


1 
6' 


2 

5* 


3. 
4' 




1 

r 


2 

6* 


3 

5' 


4. 


1 
_8' 


2 

r 


3 
J' 


4. 

5' 


1 


2 

8' 


3 

r 


4 


5 


2 
9' 


3 

8' 


4 

7' 


5. 
6' 


3 
9' 


4 

8' 


5 
7_' 


6. 
6' 


4 
9' 


i- 


6. 
7' 






5 


6 
8' 


7- 
7^' 


6 
9' 


7. 
8' 


7 
9' 


8. 
8' 


8. 
9' 


9 











138 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

give attention to this matter of images in counting and he 
will find some pupils who have to hear themselves or some 
one else actually say "seven and five" before they can 
give the answer to the written problem. Others will have 
to see the figures written before they give the answer 
to the spoken problem. 

Back to the Concrete. After this series of simple-digit 
computations is thoroughly memorized abstractly, there 
should be a return to concrete facts for practice in the 
application of numbers. The word "facts" is here used 
advisedly, for the more the teacher knows about prices and 
values and accounts, the greater the worth of the simple 
problems he can now make up for the child. The book 
may furnish problems dealing with these matters, but they 
seem so abstract and foreign to the child's interests when 
compared with those arranged by the teacher. A few simple 
money problems will not be out of place here if they 
are related to transactions of common, every-day interest. 

More Advanced Work. The pupil will not be required 
to master each step in numbers before taking up the next 
one. The work in simple counting and measuring is really 
the beginning of addition and subtraction, while formal 
work in the latter two becomes an introduction to multiplica- 
tion and division, their abbreviated forms. But the child's 
first lessons in conscious subtracting must be in connec- 
tion with concrete things, the abstract being gradually intro- 
duced as before. So, as in the case of counting or adding 
the child was led to see that he was dealing with like units. 



ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS 139 

he now observes that the essential thing in multipHcation 
is to get a result of the same kind of units as that with 
which he started, the multiplier being abstract. In begin- 
ning the work of division, be careful to name the concrete 
units. If, for example, the problem be to divide six crayons 
into two equal groups, the result is not three, but three 
crayons. That is, six crayons divided by two gives three 
crayons. But, supposing a boy is to spend ten cents for 
pencils at two cents each ; required the number of pencils 
bought. The solution then proceeds thus : Ten, the total 
number of cents, divided by two, the number of cents each 
costs, gives five, the number of pencils. 

Fractions. A good way to develop the idea of frac- 
tions is to cut a number of disks of different sizes out of 
paper. Now divide one of these equally, placing one half 
upon the other, and show the equality carefully. Cut 
another into two unequal parts and show wherein it is unlike 
the first one. You may have to say to the child, "These 
two are just about the same size. They are equal parts. 
If you cut anything into two equal parts, one of the 
parts is called a half." Proceed in like manner with thirds 
and fourths, showing finally that there are two halves, three 
thirds, etc., in anything. In connection with this work 
teach notation and enumeration of simple fractions. Com- 
mon fractions should precede and introduce decimal frac- 
tions. The pupil who understands the meaning of one third, 
will soon grasp the meaning of one tenth, and he will easily 
be led to see that the denominator is now determined by 



140 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

the decimal point. There is one presupposition in teaching 
decimal fractions not as yet mentioned, viz., notation and 
enumeration of integers, and these operations, rightly con- 
ducted, must also proceed from the decimal point. After 
common fractions have been presented carefully, it would 
not be illogical to introduce decimal notation and enumera- 
tion along with these operations with integers. The child 
can then learn units, tens, hundreds, and units, tenths, 
hundredths with equal facility. 

Arithmetic. Some of the practical difficulties met with 
in teaching arithmetic are these : ( i ) The teacher very 
frequently is a person who has had little experience of a 
business, or a commercial, nature. Hence his knowledge of 
the subject has been acquired largely by memorized rules, 
and he will so impart it to others. (2) Pupils are too 
often permitted to lose sight of the main issue in their 
eagerness to secure the answer. (3) The hurried effort 
to secure the answers, to solve all the problems given by 
the text, and to finish the book at a given date — all these 
result in a tendency to extreme carelessness in methods of 
solution and explanation. 

The Aims. First of all, then, what are some of the 
practical ends to be sought in teaching arithmetic? 

Readiness of skill in the fundamental operations is cer- 
tainly a requisite as a basis of further procedure. The 
pupil must be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide 
numbers readily. He must know his multiplication table 
well, and must not be dependent upon paper and pencil 



d 



i 



ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS 141 

for solving every little problem. The fact is, teachers are 
themselves too apt to be thus dependent, and it may now 
be too late to correct the fault. But the young student 
who is held to the task of performing mental solutions will 
in time outrank his fellows who are not. It may not in 
most cases be practicable to teach mental arithmetic as a 
separate study, but it may and ought to be taught in con- 
nection with written arithmetic. Let there be insistence 
upon a rigid, logical analysis of enough problems to famil- 
iarize the pupil with the method, and he will learn to 
enjoy such work. Whenever this work is first introduced, 
pupils are disposed to wince under the pressure that is nec- 
essary to hold them to its performance. Now, here is a 
point whereat the ways separate. Weak teachers \vill per- 
mit pupils to mumble out a few broken statements in con- 
nection with the answer, and then give the undertaking 
up as a hopeless, profitless one. But the persistent, decisive 
instructor will proceed as described above and win a victory 
for both himself and the pupils. 

It is advisable that the young teacher secure a text in 
mental arithmetic for his own use in order that he may 
have correct models of analysis. 

Thorough acquaintance with principles rather than the 
mere solution of many problems is certainly an end to 
be much desired. Therefore, take time to explain, to 
exemplify, to illustrate principles. This work the teacher 
must do carefully and patiently whenever a new principle 
is to be introduced. It is well here to be remmded that 



142 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

pupils will commit a rule to memory and apply it success- 
fully without understanding the principle involved. Such 
work is mechanical, however, and just as soon as the rule 
fades out of the verbal memory, the entire task is undone. 
But once the student understands the principle thoroughly, 
he can reconstruct the rule even after it is forgotten. For 
illustration, take the rule for finding the area of a triangle : 
Multiply the base by the altitude and take one half the 
product. But why multiply the base by the altitude? and 
why divide the product by two? The pupil has a right to 
ask these questions, and of course, the intelligent teacher 
will approach the answers to them inductively. That is, he 
may draw a rectangle, say five by eight inches, and after 
marking it off into one-inch squares draw a diagonal, form- 
ing thus two triangles. Or, perhaps better, he may, have 
the pupils do this work under his direction, thus leading 
them to discover the principle and to make the rule at the 
same time. 

A third aim in arithmetic is to increase the pupil's effi- 
ciency by means of requiring of him in every instance a 
clear and logical method of solution. If the pupil be per- 
mitted continually to present only enough figures to show 
how he acquired the answer he will soon develop an interest 
in the answer alone. 

Problem 1: Find the cost of twelve pieces one-inch finish lumber 
each 8 inches wide and 16 feel long, at 4^/^ cents per foot. 

Solutio7i: Four and one-half cents per foot means 4% cents per 
square foot of one inch in thickness. Then — 

1 12xl6x% sq. ft.=128 sq. ft. 

2 128x$0.045=$5.75, cost. 



ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS I43 

Problem 2 : Sold a tract of land 42 rds. long and 40 rds. wide at 
$60 per acre. How much did it sell for? 
Solution : 

1 40x42 sq. rd.=1680 sq. rd. 

2 1680^160=10.5, no. of acres. 

3 10.5x$60=$630, selling price. 

There is no justification in the statement "42 rd. x 40 
rd.=i,68o sq. rd.," although some text-books and mam 
teachers make use of such careless expressions. Another 
way of stating the first step in Problem 2 might be. 
40x42=1,680, no. of sq. rd. Notice the comma after 1,680. 

If teachers would only insist on pupils' bringing their 
work to class written out in this careful manner, the prob- 
lems could be copied on the blackboard in a very few minutes 
and nearly all of the recitation period could be devoted to 
explanations and discussions. 

Problem 3: Bought 1000 bu. of potatoes at 72c. After they had 
shrunk 5% I sold them for 8.5c, paying $7.50 for handling. What 
was the per cent gain on the investment? 

Solution: 

1 1000x$0.72=$720, cost. 

2 1000 bu. X .05=50 bu., loss by shrinkage. 

3 1000 bu.— .50 bu.=9.50 bu., net amount. 

4 950x$0.85=$807.50, selling price. 

5 $807.50— $7.50=$800, net receipts from sale. 

6 .$800 — $720=$80, net gain on investment. 

7 80-f-720. .11 1/9=11 1/9%, gain. 

8 Formula: Ph-B=R. 

Now, this may not be the best method of solution, but 
it is at least logical and systematic. The reader may obtain 
better results by varying the process somewhat. But the 
chief issue here is this: Is it not manifestly more profit- 



144 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

able to occupy the entire recitation period in solving one 
representative problem in some such manner, than it is 
merely to test the correctness of the answers to ten prob- 
lems? It is wholly the fault of the teachers that pupils 
develop the answer-seeking habit at the expense of the 
method of solution. If, upon taking charge of a school for 
the first time, one finds this bad habit prevalent in arithmetic, 
he can break it up by the careful method suggested above, 
and by changing one of the factors in each problem so that 
the answer given in the book will be an incorrect one. 

Pupils must have an interest, either native or borrowed, 
in any work that they undertake. The interest in obtaining 
mere answers is perhaps native, but it is the same childish 
disposition that finds satisfaction in cheap puzzles. The 
interest in the process of solution is a higher one, and it 
will develop as the work of solving arithmetical problems 
goes on systematically. In fact, if the teacher be himself 
rightly trained, his own enthusiasm in behalf of this better 
method of teaching will soon become contagious among 
his pupils. They will be quick to discern what he values 
most highly in the process of the work, and, after sufficient 
practice, they will take the same kind of pleasure in pre- 
senting a clear, logical solution of a problem as they 
naturally would in drawing a good picture. 

The Special Subjects. If the school is not so fortunate 
as to have a good, practical text in arithmetic, the teacher 
must make the poor one such by supplementing and rear- 
ranging the exercises. Even the best text-book requires 



ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS 145 

some adaptation in order to be made more serviceable. It is 
not advisable to undertake the solution of all the problems 
given, but it is well to select from among the whole num- 
ber such as are most practical. Problems relating to the 
purchase of drygoods, groceries, clothing, and house furnish- 
ings are more suitable for intermediate grades than are 
those relating to such matters as stocks and bonds. Very 
few common-school teachers seem to understand the latter 
subjects, and by those who fail to grasp them they had 
better be omitted. 

Difficulty arises whenever there is an attempt to teach 
these subjects merely by the book rules. The most sensible 
way for an instructor to master them — since he cannot 
expect to have transactions in commission and brokerage 
and stocks and bonds — is to go among those who have 
such dealings and inquire into their methods carefully. 
An examination of the forms of business paper used will 
furnish much valuable information. And then, by asking to 
be .shown in detail just how each person concerned is related 
to the transaction, one can secure a fairly comprehensive 
grasp of the matter. By all means, let the inquirer learn 
the real significance of such terms as discount, market 
value, par value, brokerage, commission, coupon, exchange, 
invoice, and premium. 

For explaining problems in mensuration a set of blocks 
should be brought into use. Tri-dimensional figures cannot 
well be represented to immature pupils by means of pic- 
tures. These blocks give the learner actual experience in 



146 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

measuring, and thus furnish a necessary aid to memory. 
In square root and cube root it is very important that invo- 
lution precede evolution. That is, actually build up the 
squares and the cubes, then take them down by means of the 
blocks. For example : 

25^= (20 + 5) = = 20= + 2 (20x5) +5' 
= 400 + 200 + 25 
= 625 
Formula: (t+u)==t=+2 (tu) +u=^ 
Again : 
25' = (20 + 5)=" = 20'+ 3 (20' x 5) + 3 (20 x 5=) + 5' 
=8000+6000+1500+125 
=15625 
That is: (t + u)= = t^ + 3 (t'xu) +3 (t + u^') +^3 

After sufficient practice in this work the inverse processes 
of square root and cube root will become easy for the 
pupils, as they will have meaning for them. The rule of 
procedure will not have to be committed to memory, since 
the pupils can reconstruct it at any time. 

Exercises 

1 With a good ruler in hand show beginners how to 
measure length and width and height of such familiar 
objects as tables and desks. 

2 Have pupils procure penny rulers and make such 
measurements themselves. See that they do the work 
accurately from the first. 

3 Provide cubical blocks that may be arranged in cubes 
and otherwise for computations in relation to tri-dimensional 



ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS 147 

forms, but do not try to take beginners very far into this 
matter. 

4 Have tin cups or buckets ranging in capacity from a 
half-pint to two gallons. By means of these teach some 
practical lessons in arithmetic and also make <pupils familiar 
with their size. 

5 If at all practicable, do a similar thing with vessels 
relating to dry measure. Young people can never learn 
how big a half bushel or a bushel measure is till they see 
one. Some teachers are not themselves very reliable in 
regard to these units of measure. 

6 Provide also, if possible, a pair of cheap scales and 
various weights to.be used in illustration of the apothecaries' 
and avoirdupois tables. 

7 Mark on the wall above the blackboard the linear 
units up to and including the rod. Stake off on the play- 
ground a square yard, a square rod ; and if there be room, 
measure off a one-acre plot. 

8 For more advanced classes bring up the consideration 
of the sizes of various tracts of land of larger dimensions 
by reference to familiar gardens, orchards, and farms. 

9 Teach in a similar manner the proper conception of a 
quarter-mile, a half-mile, and a mile by reference to such 
distances that have been actually gone over by the pupils. 
These lessons, if well learned, must all come through 
experience. 

10 For advanced classes procure from business men 
every kind of commercial paper obtainable, such as can- 



148 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

celed notes, bonds, stock certificates, insurance policies, 
mortgages, and tax receipts. Have pupils examine these 
papers carefully in connection with the study of the subjects 
to which they are related. 

Elementary Algebra. If arithmetic is to be well mas- 
tered, the young student will scarcely be ready to take 
up algebra in earnest before he has finished the eighth grade. 
However, a number of simple algebraic solutions in the 
form of problems involving one unknown quantity may be 
introduced during the last half of the eighth year. This 
will be done, of course, in connection with the work in 
arithmetic. 

Nature of the Subject. Elementary algebra is, roughly 
speaking, a generalization of the rules and principles of 
arithmetic. It enlarges the scope of the latter subject espe- 
cially, (i) by the use of many new symbols, (2) by the 
introduction of the negative number, (3) by facilitating and 
rendering exact the use of the surd number, and (4) by 
developing extensively the idea of equation. 

Algebra deals with a form of symbolism more abstract 
and vague than that of arithmetic, in that the values for 
which the algebraic symbols stand are shifting and often 
unthinkable. Many of the problems of the old-style arith- 
metic were algebraic in character, but the modern text 
very properly renders such puzzles easy of solution by 
means of algebra. In the use of the various symbols — 
of relation, of aggregation, of omission, and of logical infer- 
ence — the pupil usually has little difiiculty, with the excep- 



ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS 149 

tion of the second class mentioned, which includes the 
parenthesis ( ), the bracket [ ], the brace | |, and the 
like. It is 'necessary that much drill be given in the use 
of these, so that the work of simplifying complex expres- 
sions may be made easy and mechanical. Much of the fail- 
ure of students in factoring algebraic expressions is due to 
lack of drill in the use of these same symbols. 

The conception of a negative number is at first somewhat 
difficult for the pupil. The new meanings of the signs -|- 
and — now have to be taught, and no better method can 
be used in introducing the double series of quantities 
involved than that of applying these signs to some familiar 
terms used in arithmetic. Losses and gains, scales on the 
thermometers above and below zero, longitude and time, 
and the like, will furnish suitable illustrations of the new 
conception to be acquired, i. e., that of a negative quantity. 
Addition and subtraction may be conceived of at first as 
processes of securing net results. Thus the double mean- 
ing of the signs plus and minus can best be taught by 
means of many simple problems. The young instructor had 
better be satisfied at first with teaching the beginner the 
"how" rather than the "why" of the negative quantity. 

The student of arithmetic has very little experience with 
the surd quantity excepting in the case of square- and 
cube-root. After he has learned how to generalize the 
arithmetical problem by means of the familiar symbols x, y, 
a. b, and the like, he will experience a further pleasing 
enlargement of his power over numbers by finding that the 



150 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

supposedly irreducible surd quantity can really be used as a 
definite, exact factor in many interesting problems. In 
order that the nature of the surd may be sufficiently under- 
stood by the young pupil, it is necessary only that he be 
given much drill in its various uses. 

In elementary algebra much attention must be given to 
fixing in the mind of the student the idea of the equation. 
The master of the equation is master of the science of 
mathematics, as it is the key which unlocks the whole. 
Unfortunately, the equation is ordinarily little used by teach- 
ers of arithmetic. On account of the symbolism, with 
which he has so recently become acquainted, the beginner 
in algebra is slow to realize the meaning and the impor- 
tance of the equation, but he must be led to see that every 
problem must first be stated in terms of one or more equa- 
tions, that it must be solved by means of his tracing out 
relationships among its several equations, and that it must 
end in an equation. 

Theorems in Multiplication. These theorems must be 
thoroughly committed to memory while there is being given 
much practice in their application. For example, take 
theorem i : The square of the sum of two quantities is equal 
to the square of the first, plus twice the product of the first 
and the second, plus the square of the second. Ordinarily 
students will find no difficulty in the application of this 
theorem as long as the two quantities are simple monomials, 
but as soon as the problem is made complex there is almost 
certain to be trouble. For illustration, the learner will 



ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS 151 

perform at sight the operation indicated by (a+b)- or 
(m-n+mn-)-; but [ (aH-b) + (in+n) ]- is almost certain to 
prove a puzzler. 

There is a mental act involved in the operation last indi- 
cated which is fundamental to the whole course of algebra, 
viz., that of recognizing the type in its disguised form. 
The author has no hesitancy in offering the opinion that 
the greatest stumbling-block to progress in mastering the 
principles of elementary algebra is found in relation to this 
very matter. The mental act required in such cases is so 
new to the average beginner that he cannot get on well 
without some very specific assistance. The shortsightedness 
of instructors is very common at this point, also. Yet 
the rule of procedure is a simple one, even though over- 
looked by the teacher. It is this: Analyze the expres- 
sion, or cause the student to do so. The theorem says, 
"The square of the sum of two quantities, etc." Now, what 
are these two quantities? What is the first? What is 
the second? Point to the sign that indicates the sum of 
these quantities. The first quantity is (a-|-b) ; the second 
is (m-f-n). The sign asked for is the -)- standing between 
these two quantities. Let the teacher insist on having these 
questions answered in the case of every such problem until 
the student can distinguish at sight the type that is hid- 
den in the most complex example. After the task of dis- 
crimination has once been thoroughly mastered, the student 
has the key to the understanding of practically all the ele- 
mentary principles of algebra. The problem given above 



153 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

will then be solved as rapidly as the student can write the 
expression, as follows : 

[(a+b) + (in+ii)]^ = 
(a+b)=^+2 (a+b) (m+n) + (m+n)=^ 
a'+2ab+b'+2am+2bin+2aii +2bn+m'+2nin+ii=' 

Similar Operations. The method to be pursued in the 
applications of other theorems of multiplication and those 
of division as well is illustrated, or at least indicated, above. 
It is simply necessary for the teacher to understand the 
psychology of mind development; to understand, for 
instance, that the mind does not acquire new data in masses 
or complexes but by piecemeal. The mind of the student 
who is first acquiring the meaning of these theorems is 
analogous to that of the child who is looking for the first 
time at a picture. The elements must be pointed out to 
him singly, and named. 

Factoring. One of the most important topics in ele- 
mentary algebra is factoring. This discussion is already 
too extended to warrant a detailed consideration of the 
matter, but it is hoped that a clue to successful work in 
factoring has been given above. If the student understands 
clearly just what he is doing in applying these theorems, 
will he not perceive readily just how the expressions to 
be factored are built up? This itself is the first and 
most important step in factoring, for the work of taking 
apart what one has understandingly put together is almost 
mechanical. 



REFERENCES 

I 

1 Smith: Systematic Methodology (Silver-Burdett) ; Ch. XXI, 

"Arithmetic." 

2 EoARK: Method in Education (American Book Co.); Ch. XVII, 

"Number : Arithmetic." 

II 

1 De Garmo: Essentials of Method (Heath); pp. 114-120, "Prac- 

tical Application of Arithmetic." 

2 Gordy: a Broader Elementary Education (Hinds & Noble); Ch. 

XXV, "The Educational Value of Arithmetic." 

Ill 

1 Harris: Psychological Foundations of Education (Appleton); 

Ch. XXXVII, "The Psychology of Quantity." 

2 McLellan & Dewey: The Psychology of Number (Appleton), 

This book is an advanced treatise on the subject. 



153 



CHAPTER XI 

ART AND INDUSTRY 

Drawing. We hear not a little about art for its own 
sake, but it is quite a sufficient matter to urge that drawing 
le taught in the public schools for the sake of feeling and 
conduct. The child that is carefully directed through a 
course in this subject is thereby given opportunity to build 
up within his own nature a refined, artistic taste, and as 
a result he will know something in detail about singling 
out and enjoying the beautiful in his everyday environ- 
ment, while he will learn at the same time to disUke and to 
shrink from the ugly and degrading. The higher type of 
aesthetic appreciation produced in him will bring as its 
natural consequence a higher, more praiseworthy type of 
conduct. "The secret of noble living is noble thinking." 
Speaking of drawing as a practical discipline, Dr. A. E. 
Winship says : "Such interested attention to the eye, the 
hand, the thought, as is given in the teaching of drawing, 
develops skill to earn more as an artisan, to expend it more 
wisely, to take better care of one's material possessions, to 
have higher ideals of personal life and public effort." 
He says further that in communities where drawing is 
taught, we find "the maximum of skilled labor, the highest 

154 



ART AND INDUSTRY 155 

wages, the most social stability, and the most civic 
progress."* 

The Child's Nature. Before endeavoring to instruct a 
child in any subject whatever, it is necessary to consider 
his nature. Will this proposed instruction supply an actual 
need growing out of the child's natural unfoldment? Will 
it readily become part and parcel of his vitalizing experi- 
ence? If so, then, his response will be quick and spontane- 
ous and, under suitable conditions, the results will be most 
satisfactory. 

Is There an Instinct for Drawing? It would probably 
not be quite true to say that there is an instinct for draw- 
ing, but to say that drawing is, in its beginnings, a mode 
of expressing an instinct — the play instinct — is doubtless 
nearer the truth. It has been shown conclusively, of late, 
that play has served a great purpose in the development 
and preservation of many of the higher animal species, 
including man. The play instinct is especially strong in 
the human infant, but this instinct manifests itself impul- 
sively ; that is, it takes no definite direction until guided by 
conditions in the environment. This play impulse has many 
possible modes of expression, and the child's first experi- 
ence in drawing may very appropriately be made one of 
them, provided only that the teacher understands the nature 
of the case. There are three natural periods for drawing 
in the life of the child, and they may be termed : ( i ) The 
Imaginative; (2) The Coordinative ; (3) The Esthetic. 

♦ The School Arts Book, Feb. '06. 



156 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

The Imaginative Period. The child's first efforts at 
drawing are in response to the play impulse and are charac- 
terized strongly by the element of make-believe. During 
the imaginative period — which under favorable circum- 
stances may be extended to the tenth year — the imagination 
is very active ; and, from his own point of view the child is 
especially engaged in expressing his ideas. He is, therefore, 
at his best when proceeding under little restraint and 
adverse criticism. The expression here is distinctively one 
of impulse guided by imagination, and the practical result 
is gradually acquired control of the hand movements. Chil- 
dren take keen delight in this early, crude picture-making, 
partly because of the attending increase in the sense of 
power to express the self. There is just one way in which 
the teacher may, and often does, reduce this spontaneous 
practice to that of flat, dull drudgery, and that is to poi,nt 
out to the child too soon and too rapidly the errors he is 
making. Once the young artist's mind becomes diverted 
from the idea he is expressing to the mere form of his 
picture, all the charm is gone, and from that time on the 
practice of drawing is a grind. You may draw for him 
simple copies better than his own and he will unconsciously 
imitate the better forms and profit by them, but do not kill 
his spontaneity by pointing out his mistakes too abruptly. 

Proceed Slowly. It being necessary to give the imagi- 
nation free rein, and to preserve spontaneity, we may well 
inquire as to what the function of the teacher really is dur- 
ing this first stage of progress. It is to supply the child's 



ART AND INDUSTRY 157 

imagination with proper materials, and to furnish by slow 
degrees corrections of the drawings produced by the latter. 
It does not matter so much what the child attempts to 
draw at first, provided only that it may be represented by a 
simple, rough outline. The first picture may be of a 
person, a cat, a chicken, a house, or any other familiar 
thing. The teacher may have to furnish the first sketch, 
but it is better to induce the pupil to do so, if possible. The 
beginning will then be natural and from the latter's point 
of view. The young artist will be inclined to draw rapidly 
at first, and to produce many copies of the same thing. The 
latter tendency will give the instructor an opportunity to 
guide the youthful hand in the production of a more perfect 
copy. 

Let us assume that the pupil has just drawn a crude out- 
line sketch of a house. The teacher will draw one much 
like it, only with slight improvement as to form, which 
the learner will readily but unconsciously imitate in the 
course of a few more trials. The latter will then be ready 
for another slightly improved copy. This alternation of 
pupil and teacher is the true psychologic method of the 
imaginative period in drawang, at the end of which the 
pupil will have a];proximated the perfect outline copy of 
the pictures attempted, and he will have gained not a little 
control over his hand movements. The true teacher is never 
impatient with the child's imperfections in any form and 
perhaps least of all with his awkward attempts at art. 
Looked at rightly, these crude pictures are beautiful and 



158 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

inspiring representations of an innocent soul gradually 
finding its way out into the light. 

Subjects for Imaginative Period 
Have pupils make bare outline sketches of their ideas 
about such familiar objects as those mentioned below. Pay 
some attention to the seasons of the year and permit some 
use of simple colors, teaching at the same time, of course, 
the cardinals, R. O. G. Y. B. V. 

Spring 
Grass-blades, raindrops falling, familiar birds, little-chick- 
ens, simple blossoming plants, child under umbrella in rain ; 
crude outlines of people, dogs, cats, rabbits, donkeys, leaves, 
trees, barefoot children, bridge over stream, silhouettes, 
ball and bat, teeter-board, swing, marbles. 

Summer 

Trees bent by wind, garden vegetables, birds on nest, boat 
on water, flowering plants appropriately colored, corn- and 
other grain-stalks, trees, a picnic basket, fishing-rod and line, 
boys fishing, cows or horses in pasture, other ani- 
mals, sunrise, sunset, moon behind the clouds, cherries, 
strawberries. 

Autumn 

Haystacks, load of hay, fruit on trees and vines, corn on 
stalk, cotton, leaves colored by frost, autumn vegetables, 
melons, pumpkins, football, basketball, squirrel in tree, 
niigratory birds on wing, corn in shock, boy in tree gathering 
nuts, the schoolhouse, boys and girls on their way to school. 



ART AND INDUSTRY 159 

Winter 

Snow man, children skating, coasting, sleighs, stone fence, 
leafless trees, Esquimo house, evergreens, snowflakes, snow 
falling, rabbits, o'possums, wolves, bears, fire in grate, load 
of coal, snow-birds, Christmas tree, Santa Claus, houses 
for various domestic animals. 

Miscellaneous List 

Animals seen in menagerie, steam railway engine, street- 
car, bicycle, motor car, houses, telephone poles and wire, 
Indian wigwam, waterfall, rocking-horse, simple valentines, 
hats, shoes, articles of furniture. 

The Coordinative Period. This period may be as- 
sumed to cover the ages from about ten or twelve to fifteen 
years, and within it the practice of drawing partakes of the 
nature of work to the pupil, whereas, during the imaginative 
period his attitude toward drawing was more one of play. 
A widely extended inquiry has shown that usually children 
have practically no interest in drawing during this second 
period, but it is believed that the method outlined above will 
tend to preserve at least some of the interest of the first 
period for the second. 

The New Mental Attitude. The pupil now knows 
what a good model is, and he is aware of the necessity of 
his making true copies. The attention must now be cen- 
tered upon form, while the chief problem is one of closely 
coordinating mind and hand. The pupil's perceptive powers 
are more fully developed, so that he can appreciate 



160 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

much more of detail. True pictures and real objects may 
now be set before him as models, while he is given some 
specific instruction in the matter of light and shadow and, 
later, in the beginnings of perspective. Wisely extended 
investigations show that the creative tendency is weak 
during the coordinative period, and that imitation must be 
depended upon chiefly. This is probably the best time to 
place before the child suitable pictures to be copied. 

In the selection of pictures or designs to be copied it is 
necessary to observe two or three matters carefully. Assum- 
ing that the pupil has had the practice outlined above for 
the imaginative period, he is now prepared to understand 
and copy pictures showing considerable detail. However, 
too much complexity will confuse and discourage him and 
it should be avoided. A second suggestion is that the pic- 
tures to be copied should be suited to the learner's interest. 
It is a good plan to place a number before him and let him 
select the one he desires for a model, remembering that 
nothing is too difficult for him if he actually feels an inner 
need to draw it. 

Subjects for Coordinative Period 

1 Use many of the subjects listed for the imaginative 
period, with the addition of more detail. 

2 This is an imitative, but not an imaginative period, 
so have pupils study pictures with a view to making true 
copies. 

3 With mounted specimens or pictures as models 



AKT AND INDUSTRY 161 

require pupils to make drawings of birds, coloring them 
appropriately and reproducing, if possible, a portion of 
the natural environment. 

4 Follow suggestion in No. 3 with regard to animals, 
giving special attention to making the appearance lifelike. 

5 Give practice in drawing straight, curved, horizontal, 
perpendicular, oblique, and parallel lines, also the circle and 
the many two-dimensional geometrical figures. 

6 Copy and color various designs for souvenir cards, 
calendars, fancy-work and chinaware. 

7 Draw from objects such articles as vases, dishes, 
flower pots and stands, chairs, chandeliers, grilles, .lattice- 
work, colored-glass windows. 

About the only inventional work suggested for this period 
is that which will assist in the study of elementary geog- 
raphy — a subject which pupils of this age are presumably 
taking up. In this connection attempt the following : 

1 Make a cross-line drawing indicating the cardinal 
points of the compass. 

2 Draw a picture of the mariner's compass, explaining 
its nature and purpose. 

3 Draw a globe showing the equator, the poles, the 
zone divisions, and the important longitudinal lines. 

4 Draw map of schoolgrounds, of a town square, a 
park, and fairgrounds, showing principal buildings and 
other objects located thereon. 

5 Draw maps true to a scale requiring careful practice 
in use of ruler in such work. 



162 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

6 Draw simple map of the home county, the home 
state, and finally the United States, locating important 
buildings, cities, rivers, mountains, lakes. Likewise draw 
maps of the various states and continents. 

7 Draw a series of maps of the home state and the 
United States, each one for a single, specific purpose, such 
as to locate an important industry, an agricultural or mining- 
product, waterways, transportation lines, mountain ranges, 
Indian reservations, and the like. 

The .ffisthetic Period. If properly trained the young 
artist has now arrived at a degree of proficiency which 
enables him to appreciate consciously some of the finer 
meanings of the work of drawing. The new awakening 
occurs ordinarily at the age of thirteen years in girls and 
fifteen in boys, or the beginning of adolescence. The 
revival of interest will be slow but gradual from this time 
on, and its signs of permanence will be marked by the 
learner's reflective attitude of mind and by his increasing 
fondness for constructive work. In addition to his hand, 
trained and submissive to his will, and his perception, 
keen and alert, he will now have the power of 
interpretation. 

Little Direction Necessciry. As the pupil advances 
under careful instruction the necessity for direction grows 
less. During this third period it is required only that the 
teacher give occasional suggestions and encouragement by 
way of pointing out the more obscure meanings in pictures, 
and by reference to some available literature on the subject. 



ART AND INDITSTRY 163 

In case of actually original work the pupil will, of course, 
often have to be told what to attempt, while in mechanical 
drawing some of the rules and principles will require 
explanation. 

Subjects for ^^sthetic Period 

1 Use many of the subjects suggested for the imagi- 
native period, requiring in connection therewitli original 
work. 

2 Have original designs plotted for school gardens, 
home gardens, lawns, fruit orchards, city parks, flower- 
beds, barnyard buildings, and fences. 

3 Solicit original designs for table tops and covers, 
paper napkins, table covers, inlaid work, handkerchief 
borders, paneling, brackets, grilles, wood-carvings, mantels. 

4 Call for new designs for post cards, valentines, 
Christmas cards, monograms, pennants, class and school 
mottoes, program cards, fancy lettering, calendars, Easter 
cards, and the like. 

5 Require original illustrations for Mother Goose 
rhymes and "Robinson Crusoe" and other stories. Relate 
a story, requiring pupils to retell it by means of pictures. 

6 Occasionally have compositions illustrated with draw- 
ings. Encourage pupils who have a talent for such work 
to make cartoons of interesting school events. 

7 Give some of the simple rudiments of drawing plans 
for dwelling-houses, schoolhouses and other buildings. 



164 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

8 If time will allow give some technical instruction in 
perspective drawing. 

The School Garden. As yet our course of study for 
common schools is very one-sided. It places too much 
stress upon books and not enough upon experience of 
doing. If the methods and material of the kindergarten 
could be applied seriously as supplementary to the book 
work now offered in the grades between that and the high 
school, the golden age of experience-getting, now largely 
wasted, would be used to great advantage. There is a 
crying need in every common home and in every common 
school, of a kind of training that will tend to blend the arts 
and crafts in every individual. Our artists know too little 
of the life of the artisan, and 0hr artisans possess too little 
of the perspective of the artist. 

Meaning of Manual and Industrial Education. It is a 
narrow, imperfect view of either of these kinds of training 
to regard it as merely preparation for making a living. In 
case of children and youths it must be regarded not as 
training for self-support, but as education for self-develop- 
ment, which will most certainly result in self-support and 
many other splendid achievements as well. First of all, 
the physical activities necessary under the conditions herein 
named will result in corresponding nerve structures. Sec- 
ondly, the interests of the growing child must be gradually 
centered in people, products, and industries. "Manual 
training introduces our youth to a sympathetic under- 
standing of the constructive activities which constitute so 



ART AND INDUSTRY 165 

important a part of our contemporary life," says Professor 
Paul Hanus.* 

Thirdly, in the course of manual and industrial training 
the pupil is orienting himself ; that is, acquiring the rudi- 
ments of many trades and occupations and developing latent 
forces which would otherwise go to waste, and which will 
in time enable him to achieve the highest purpose for which 
his life is inherently suited. Lastly, and to summarize, this 
kind of training properly conducted means, on the part of 
the learner, self-development, self-control, self-support, and 
self-respect. 

What Can Be Accomplished? The question that we 
must now consider is : What under present conditions can 
be accomplished by way of industrial training in connection 
with the common schools? It is believed that a school 
garden is the most reasonable thing to consider. Boards of 
education can, with little expense, provide a plot of ground 
within easy reach of the school. In country districts it may 
lie adjacent to the playground, and in towns and cities it 
may consist of one or more vacant lots. 

Management. While the school garden may be under 
the supervision of the board of education, it may be 
immediately superintended by the teacher or principal of 
the school. Some mature pupil may be appointed foreman 
of the entire garden force, or the pupils may work in squads 
each under its own foreman. Have a regular time for tend- 
ing the garden. A half-hour to an hour after school on 

* Atlantic Monthly, Jan. '08. 



166 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

pleasant afternoons will perhaps be sufficient. The same 
orderly method should be insisted upon as is applied to any 
of the other school work. The ideal arrangement will pro- 
vide for a plot of ground for each member of the school 
above a certain grade, the very young pupil being attached 
to some older one as a helper. Careless methods and poor 
management will destroy the effectiveness of the garden 
work as readily as that of any other undertaking in school 
or out. There is no good reason why the gardening may 
not be a required part of the school work. 

Plotting the Ground. Each pupil should be allotted 
two hundred to five hundred square ftet of ground. Make 
the plots, say ten feet wide and twenty to fifty feet long, 
the length running north and south. Make the division 
paths, or aisles, not less than eighteen inches wide and the 
main passageways about three feet. The best way to make 
out a suitable garden plot is to give the data — amount of 
land available, its dimensions, and the number of pupils — 
to the members of the advanced drawing-class, as suggested 
above, and have them work out the plan or design in detail. 
Thus art and industry go hand in hand. 

Preparing and Planting. The rough work of prepar- 
ing the ground should be done by men, but all other work 
may be assigned to the pupils. Let each one have his own set 
of garden tools — not toys — which are kept clean and dry 
in a common tool-house. See that all rubbish is cleared 
away and the surface soil thoroughly mulched. The teacher 
or foreman will easily obtain and give detailed instructions 



ART AND INDUSTRY 167 

as to depth of planting, amount of seed necessary, and 
width of rows apart. Run the rows east and west, or the 
short way of the plot, and place the tallest-growing produce 
at the north end. Plant only common and easily-grown 
garden seeds and especially such as will mature an early 
crop. Devote about one fourth or one fifth of each plot 
to flowers. 

Care and Handling. Allow no weeds to grow in the 
garden, and give attention to surface draining in wet 
weather and to conservation of moisture by mulching in dry- 
weather. There are various interesting ways of disposing 
of the produce. One way is to allow each pupil to take his 
own part of it home for family use. In such case the parent 
should pay suitably for it, in order to encourage thrift and 
economy in the child. Another way is to take each kind 
of produce in its season to the open market, and to give 
each child his own share of the net proceeds. The money 
may be disposed in the school savings bank, if there be one. 



REFERENCES 



The School Arts BooJc (The Davis Press, Worcester, Mass,). For the 
work in drawing, the teacher will find this an excellent publication. 
The firms given below can furnish almost every kind of art material 
that the teacher may desire : 

The Palmer Co., 50 Bromfield St., Boston, Mass. 

The Prang Educational Co., Chicago, 111. 

G, P. Brown & Co., Beverley, Mass. 

Perry Pictures Co., Box 3190, Maiden, Mass. 

Educational Publishing Co., 50 Bromfield St., Boston, Mass. 

II 

How to Malce a School Garden, by H. D. Hemenway (Doubleday, 

Page), gives in clear, detailed form all necessary directions for 

this work. 
School Gardens, a pamphlet by H. L. Clapp (The Palmer Co., Boston, 

Mass.). 
Country Life in America, April, 1902; March, 1903. 
Bulletins on School Gardening will be furnished free of cost by the 

U. S. Bureau of Education, 



168 



CHAPTER XII 

GEOGRAPHY AND NATURE STUDY 

Geography All-inclusive, Geography, as it is com- 
monly taught in the common schools, may be defined as a 
description of the earth's surface including all that lives, 
moves, and has its being upon it, all that grows out of it, 
and all that lies buried under it. The author has been 
consulting an outline of the subject as taught m one of the 
great cities of the United States, and he finds that many 
scores of topics are emphasized as "special subjects of 
study." One author designates this branch as "the center 
of correlation par excellence." But it might just as 
well be characterized as a "center of confusion" or a 
"center of distraction," either of which it is likely to become 
in the hands of an unskilled teacher. The materials in this 
study are necessarily chaotic and multitudinous. If turned 
loose in the midst of them the pupil will pick up consider- 
able rough-and-ready information, but the knowledge 
acquired will lack depth and logical coherence. 

Many people who visited the great exposition at Chicago 
in 1893 ^"d the later one at St. Louis in 1904 tried to see 
everything on exhibition, but they came away with little or 
nothing in the form of permanent knowledge. Many 

169 



170 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

wandered about the exposition grounds without any plan or 
purpose, lured on to the point of intense fatigue by the 
exhibit in the immediate vicinity that held out the greatest 
enticement. So it is in some measure with the study of 
geography, especially in the case of beginners. The whole 
field is so new and entertaining that the interest in the 
confusing details constantly approaches the point of excite- 
ment. But there must be an aim or purpose in the teacher's 
mind as to the goal of every lesson. He must select and 
single out the few elements that are most important and 
that are relative to the purpose in mind, and must actually 
assist the pupils in ignoring the many other objects. The 
guide-posts are not at all apparent to the child, and mind- 
wandering is the most natural thing for both teacher and 
taught unless the former be fully aware of the situation. 

Then, do not try to teach a little about everything that 
comes into view or into consciousness during the process of 
the geography recitation. Such practice will be enter- 
taining but not instructive. For any single lesson consider 
the smallest details about one thing or principle rather than 
a little about everything. Logical continuity of thought in 
the direction of a given end is what is to be desired here to 
bring order out of chaos. If the lesson for to-day be con- 
cerned with the study of a river, a drainage system, or the 
form and movements of the earth, then stick to that as a uni- 
fying principle, and permit nothing to be considered during 
this recitation that cannot be shown to the pupils to be 
relative to the point at issue. 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURE STUDY 171 

As a further guide to the study of geography the 
following suggestions are offered : 

1 By the assistance of maps, globes, and the like, the 
young pupil must be given early in the course the best 
possible conception of the earth's forms and movements. 

2 He may be aided in securing a visual image of the 
form and comparative size of the larger divisions of land 
and water as shown by the maps. This will include a rough 
estimate of comparative latitude and longitude. 

3 He may be led to a proper conception of the influ- 
ences upon climate of winds, ocean currents, mountain 
ranges, and the like, so that he can apply this knowledge 
deductively in the study of any country. 

4 These climatic conditions must be thought of in con- 
nection with the study of the chief products of the country. 
It is not sufficient merely to teach that one portion of the 
country leads all others in the production of wheat, and 
another in cotton, but it must be shown what natural condi- 
tions make these facts possible. Alore of the philosophy 
of geography is what is needed in such cases. 

5 Relate as vitally as possible all these matters to the 
activity and well-being of the people. Show that all these 
important articles of produce are brought forth under the 
operation of certain natural laws, of which man takes 
advantage. 

6 Show how men engage in these great productive 
enterprises with a definite purpose of supplying the necessi- 
ties and luxuries to others in exchange for money, and 



173 PSYCHOLOGIC METHjOD IN TEACHING 

consider briefly the chief means and avenues of 
transportation. 

7 Lead the pupils somewhat early to a rough under- 
standing of the evolutionary process that is going on in 
the world. Vast forests grow up, and decay or are cleared 
away. The shore line is constantly being changed by 
erosion and deposit. Huge animals that once lived upon 
the earth have been swept away as the result of changing 
conditions, as, for example, the American buffalo, or bison. 
The races of men are in a still somewhat active struggle 
for the uppermost place in the direction of the world's 
events. 

If the teacher of geography will seek to have the pupils 
gain a knowledge of these and a few other great principles 
of the world's forms and movements it will be both possible 
and profitable to ignore all the thousand and one minor 
details of the subject except those relative to the special 
topic under consideration. The sooner the pupil can be 
made to see that these cosmic processes are vitally related 
to his well-being, the sooner the subject of geography will 
be transformed from a mere burdening of the memory to 
a matter of living interest. 

QUESTIONS FOE THE CLASSES IN ADVANCED GEOGKAPHY 

1 What benefits will this country derive from the completion of the 

Panama Canal? 

2 Why are the Dutch expending vast wealth in the drainage of the 

Zuyder Zee? 

3 Why has a great land syndicate so eagerly secured millions of 

acres of public timber land in the northwestern states of late, 
when such land has heretofore had few claimants? 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURE STUDY I73 

4 Toward what center is population tending most actively to-day, 

(a) in cities? (b) in mining-districts'? (e) in farming com- 
munities ? 

5 What forces or factors have been most effective of late, (a) in 

transforming rural life"? (b) in transforming the resources of 
the soil? (c) in relieving the congested conditions of large cities? 

It may be that these are more closely related to economics 
or sociology than to geography. They nevertheless illus- 
trate a type of questions which might well be asked of the 
advanced student of geography in order to stimulate 
thought at a time when he is too much inclined to use 
merely his memory. He ought by this means to be given 
the impression that the geography of the country as well 
as its history is constantly being made. 

Objects of Nature Study. To make the child more at 
home in the commonplace situations in which he dwells and 
in which he will most probably remain throughout life ; to 
make it possible that the objects of nature may speak to 
him in that highest language of the soul during the odd 
moments that he may give to meditation ; to teach the child 
how to pause and see meaning in a few of the objects in 
the otherwise bewildering environment and thereby to give 
him the first lesson in poise and simplicity of living — these 
matters are suggested as some of the purposes of nature 
study. This subject is not to be considered so much a 
separate course as a supplement to all the courses in that 
it deepens the child's consciousness of his environment. 

Not Science. Nature study is not to be thought of as 
a science, especially in the sense that it goes to the bottom 



174 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

of things and brings out a complete system of related parts. 
It must ignore bony skeletons and viscera and digestive 
apparatus and microscopic cross-sections, and other such 
inner secrets of science. On the other hand, not merely 
the bare outer facts but these in their human relations is 
what is to be desired. But there needs to be offered a word 
of caution against mere "browsing," against running helter- 
skelter amidst the objects of nature without really observ- 
ing any of them. Rather pause at the sight, or sound, or 
smell of some object of nature and obtain first a clear per- 
ception, and then by closer approach a more complete 
observation. Lastly reach a helpful inference of some kind. 
This pausing and reflecting and acquiring sentiment will 
tend to check the habit of distraction into which the child 
is almost certain to fall if merely turned loose among the 
creatures of nature. 

It is useless to think of trying to study the whole of 
nature. Consider only that portion which means most to 
you and from which you can lead the pupil to get the fullest 
meanings for themselves. 

May Be a Related Subject. This subject may be 
closely related to geography. In the ungraded district 
school where time is so limited, it had better be taught only 
in connection with the latter subject. The work included 
in nature study usually has reference to plants and animals 
as they are found in their freest outdoor existence. One of 
the commonest methods of carrying on this study is to have 
the students bring to the schoolroom various specimens for 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURE STUDY 175 

Study and discussion. Some schools are finding it some- 
what profitable to collect a miniature museum of specimens 
of rocks, fossils, preserved plants, and the like. Others are 
so situated that they can go out in groups and make 
observations. All of this is highly entertaining to the pupil 
and can be made profitable if rightly managed. 

How the Child-Mind Acts. The first thing for the 
teacher to remember in conducting nature classes is that 
the child does not at first see things in complex wholes. 
Suppose a particular plant is being studied. Mere unde- 
fined gazing at it will not avail much by way of permanent 
results. On the other hand, the peculiar feature or forma- 
tion of root, leaf, branch, and flower must be pointed out 
one at a time, and slowly enough for the child to perceive 
these elements singly. And, by all means, call especial 
attention to the characteristics that distinguish one species 
from another. Moreover, it is important that the object of 
study be presented to the pupils in as nearly as possible its 
natural habitat, form, attitude, as the case may be. 

Study Processes. It is so easy to wander around and 
browse in the midst of these things of nature that the 
teacher needs to be on guard against this thing. There 
must be a purpose in every nature-study lesson so that a 
kind of logical unity may be got out of it. To this end 
it is better to study one object in its various stages of devel- 
opment than to observe many diversified forms merely in 
their static aspects. In other words, the child learns much 
more about what the thing docs than about what it is. 



176 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

Movements and processes attract him most. While he can 
not, of course, see the plant grow, he can easily be taught 
to observe it in many of its stages of growth. A young 
teacher in a country district was conducting her school in 
the study of wheat. Now, this cereal was growing all 
around, but there was, nevertheless, much that the pupils 
never had and perhaps never would have learned about it 
without some such guidance. On the day of the lesson she 
had, by prearrangement, some grains of wheat in a box in 
various stages of germination. These were carefully exam- 
ined and there was given a simple explanation of how the 
plant secures its nourishment and of what this nourish- 
ment consists. A few full heads of the ripe grain also were 
on exhibition. At the close of the day's work all the pupils 
that were large enough went with' her to a mill a mile and a 
half distant, and for nearly an hour studied the processes 
of flour-manufacture. All this constituted what the author 
considers a logical, intensive study of one of nature's proc- 
esses. Such a lesson is of most permanent value to the 
young. 

Study Purposes. It is an easy step from the consider- 
ation of processes to that of purposes. Nothing is of much 
consequence when looked at as a mere isolated fact. We 
have too long mistaken mere entertainment for instruction. 
So, What is it for? is a good question for the student of 
nature to ask and for the teacher to try to answer, as well. 
It is a mistake to think that young pupils do not enjoy 
tracing out casual relations. Just now a six-year-old cos- 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURE STUDY 177 

mologist has been asking the author two pretty difficult 
questions, namely, "What holds the earth up in the air?" 
and "If the rain comes from clouds made out of the ocean, 
where did they get the first water to make the ocean with ?" 
These questions are more nearly typical of such youngsters 
than exceptional. 

Let us pay more attention to this linkage of facts in con- 
ducting the nature-study lessons, and thereby lay the foun- 
dation for logical and purposive thinking in maturity. 
While we cannot always show that these objects serve a 
purpose that is useful to man, we can explain how they 
maintain their existence in the midst of the struggle that is 
going on among Nature's children. It is an easy matter, 
however, to make a detailed study of some of the birds that 
devour insect pests and also of some of the vermin-destroy- 
ing animals. These might well be placed with the domestic 
animals in a group and shown to be the friends and allies 
of man. This lesson is made most serviceable in the educa- 
tion of the child only when there has been aroused in him a 
genuine interest in the well-being of these lower creatures. 
He must know that the wanton destruction even of plants, 
as well as the mistreatment of dumb animals, is to be 
regarded in the light of a misdemeanor, to say the least. 

Character-Building Considered. It is contended here 
that the nature-study lesson is only begun when the child 
has been led to discover the bare facts of nature. Along 
with acquisition of these facts he must also acquire a body 
of utilitarian and aesthetic sentiments about these living 



178 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

things and a set of dispositions toward them that will lead 
him to accord them proper and considerate treatment. The 
cruelty to animals still so common among thoughtless men 
can best be eradicated not by legislation but by careful 
instruction on the subject of the youth of the land. Thus 
the lesson in nature study is to become a process of 
character-building. 

But the chief element of character that is to be wrought 
out of nature study is derived from childish sentimentalism. 

There's a merry brown thrush sitting up in the tree, 
He is singing to me, he is singing to me; 
And what does he say, little girl, little boy? 
Oh, the world's running over with joy! 

The tall pink fox gloves bowed their heads, 
The violets curtsied and went to bed. 

These little quotations are representative of the mind- 
attitude of the child. To him the things of nature are 
animated with a peculiar kind of responsiveness. Every 
true, spontaneous child of nature is a poet, and his poetic 
instinct ought to be indulged, not suppressed, by the stern, 
orderly facts of science. Then study Nature in connection 
with her poetry, which has been expressed so beautifully 
by some of the ablest composers. To the child rightly 
guided in this study these verses are real song-poems pos- 
sessing a cadence and a rhythm that penetrate deep into his 
soul. Let him commit many of them to memory and thereby 
lay the foundation for a beautiful and inspiring sentiment 
for the future. A middle-aged man was traveling through 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURE STUDY 179 

Canada by rail and was a thousand miles from home and 
friends and many long years removed from the scene of 
his early childhood. It was a rare June morning and there 
came in at the open window the clear, sweet note of the 
meadow lark. The traveler was enchanted, for this one 
little familiar, musical strain had carried him back to the 
old-time scenes with their beautiful, poetic reality. 

What melody! Hark! 
Tis thou, O joyous lark! 

How- aptly the poet has expressed the whole story in the 
familiar lines, 

To him .who in the love of Nature holds 
Communion -with her visible forms, she speaks 
A various language ; for his gayer hours 
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile 
And eloquence of beauty, and she glides 
Into his darker musings with a mild 
And healing sympathy that steals away 
Their sharpness ere he is aware. 



REFERENCES 



1 Beyer & Wicks: Eow to Teach and Study Geography (A. Flana- 

gan). A carefully prepared suggestive outline. Two small 
volumes. 

2 Greenwood, J. M., Editor: Successful Teaching (Funk & Wag- 

nails) ; "The Various Methods of Teaching Nature," by Caro- 
line C. Leighton. This book contains fifteen well-selected 
papers on teaching as many specific topics, together with an 
able introduction by the editor. 

II 

1 White: The Art of Teaching (American Book Co.); Chs. XXI, 

XXII, "Geography." 

2 De Garmo: Principles of Secondary Education (Macmillan) ; pp. 

89 97, "The Earth Sciences." 

Ill 

1 Bailey: The Nature Study Idea (Doubleday, Page) . A most 

excellent, brief work. Bead it all. 

2 Hodge: Nature Study and Life (Ginn). Introduction by G. Stan- 

ley Hall. A scholarly treatment from the standpoint of a 
scientist. 



180 



CHAPTER XIII 

ELEMENTARY AGRICULTUEE 

A Public-School Subject. Elementary agriculture is 
apparently destined to take its place beside the so-called 
common-school branches as a subject of study. One third 
of the people of the United States depend directly upon 
agricultural and allied pursuits for their livelihood, and all 
of them depend indirectly upon the products of the soil for 
their sustenance. The very staff of life comes out of the 
ground. The complex act of Mother Earth, whereby she 
transforms earth and air and water and sunshine into the 
materials of our dining-table and many of those of our 
commerce, can be woven into a story of great charm and 
interest for the young. When there is added to this the 
further story of how the ingenuity of man has made all 
these products of nature more available for his use. the 
interest is indeed heightened. Moreover, if rightly tau.e^ht. 
this subject may be made just as strictly a cultural one as 
any branch now included in the public-school course. 

Some of the more specific purposes of teaching ele- 
mentary agriculture in the public schools may be stated as 
follows : ( I ) to show the fundamental nature of agricul- 

181 



183 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

ture; (2) to develop detailed familiarity with agricultural 
methods and farm life; (3) to render agriculture more 
attractive to growing youth. Within the present generation 
agriculture has grown to be a true science and a real art, 
and the position of the agriculturist has become more and 
more one of dignity and respect. The farmer, the gardener, 
the dairyman, and the animal-husbandman are destined to 
become, of necessity, men who have matured mentally by 
means of both general and special education. The very 
foundation of a stable, prosperous people rests in an intelli- 
gent rural popttlation and a steady, abundant productiveness 
of the soil. These and many other reasons might be given 
for urging that agriculture — including the allied industries 
— is both a suitable and a necessary subject for school 
study. 

Who Can Teach It? As the public schools are now 
conducted, the teacher is not a specialist in any one branch, 
but rather one possessed of a fund of knowledge of the ele- 
ments of many branches of study. One does not need to 
know all about any subject in order to be able to teach 
the rudiments of that subject. A similar objection might be 
urged against teaching arithmetic or physiology to that 
likely to be offered in opposition to teaching agriculture in 
the public schools, namely, that the teacher has had no 
practical experience as an agriculturist. Neither has he had 
such experience as a mathematician or a physiologist. He 
has acquired his knowledge of both of these subjects chiefly 
from books. There is really an advantage on the side of 



ELEMENTARY AGEICULTUEE 183 

agriculture, in that its materials are so abundant on every 
hand that object-lessons are always practicable. 

Any intelligent teacher can easily acquire enough knowl- 
edge of agriculture from text-books and observation to 
enable him to give instruction in the elementary principles 
of the subject. Those who live and teach in great cities will 
make the most satisfactory progress in their study of agri- 
culture by means of visits to the country, just as the district- 
school teachers will profit much by making a personal study 
of a great city. The most important admonition is that in 
each case the teacher have a purpose other than that of 
being merely entertained and that he make his study 
systematic. 

Who Is to Study Agriculture? Doubtless there will 
for a time be much prejudice to overcome with reference to 
teaching this subject at all in the public schools. In rural 
communities it will often be urged that the pupils acquire 
through practical experience all the necessary knowledge of 
agriculture, while city school patrons will tend to believe 
the subject to be too foreign to the children's interests. 

And then, there is always the problem of an overcrowded 
course of study to be dealt with. Consolidation and better 
grading of the rural schools are helping to solve this prob- 
lem, however. It may be advisable, in the case of many 
schools, to introduce the new branch of study by degrees : 
for example, by a once-a-week, carefully prearranged lesson 
on the subject In other schools it can take its place beside 
the other branches and rank with them. Under such condi- 



184 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

tions a text-book will of course be used, and pupils of a 
certain grade will be assigned to the work. Pupils of an 
intermediate grade — about the seventh — are far enough 
advanced to take the text-book course. 

How to Make Agriculture Interesting. If this work 
is to be made interesting, it must not be done too abstractly. 
The teacher's Ingenuity must be exercised constantly in an 
effort to bring pupils into the closest possible concrete rela- 
tions to agricultural matters. It will be well, too, to avoid 
the use of many new and difificult terms where the use of 
simpler expressions will suffice. But let every lesson have 
a purpose, not merely to entertain, but also to give instruc- 
tion in some definite portion of the subject. Remember that 
the natural method of teaching any subject is to begin with 
that which is already somewhat familiar to the pupil. If 
the lesson to-day be on plant structure then have one or 
more familiar plants at hand to illustrate every point made. 
If it be in reference to the growth of plants, then get at 
the root of the matter through the study of a plant in 
different stages of its growth. 

It will be a mistake if, in connection with his many other 
duties, the teacher tries to do very much laboratory work 
in teaching agriculture. Let the objects brought before the 
class be few and simple, but directly to the point. Often 
pictures will serve almost as well as objects, especially when 
the picture illustrates merely a new fact about some 
object with which the pupils are already familiar. For 
example, it would not be necessary to drag a lot of fodde' 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 185 

into the schoolroom in order to show a class of country 
pupils how the roots of the growing corn form a network 
underground between the rows. A picture will suffice for 
this. It is just such overdoing of the work of illustration 
that renders the lesson too complex for the elementary class, 
and results in confusion and lack of interest on their part. 

Make a Few Excursions. If practicable, take the class 
in agriculture occasionally to some point where the lesson 
of the day will be best illustrated. The study of the different 
kinds of soil, for example, will be made most attractive by 
means of a short trip to a number of well-selected points. 
Again, it is often possible to find in the same pen, or two 
adjoining ones, representatives of both high-grade domestic 
animals and "scrubs." A nearby meadow or pasture may, 
at another time, serve well the purpose of illustration for 
some particular lesson. 

Encourage Questions. Do not hesitate to encourage 
question-asking, even though you may not be at all ready 
with your answers. There is no disgrace in not being able 
to answer definitely all the questions a pupil may ask on any 
subject. These questions by pupils will often furnish excel- 
lent topics for further inquiry and investigation, and serve 
the purpose of developing the pupils' resourcefulness as well. 
The best teacher is always capable of being taught by his 
pupils. The questions asked by the pupils of one class will 
prepare him to serve better the interests of the next. 

A Course of Instruction. Below is given under eight 
general group-subjects a series of forty lesson-topics. Each 



186 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

of these topics may be used as the basis of a single lesson, 
or it may be expanded into as many lessons as time and 
other conditions will allow. No effort is made to give the 
details of the lesson-development, but there are perhaps 
enough suggestions to guide the teacher of ordinary ability. 
Illustrate every lesson as far as possible by means of 
reference to familiar objects and facts. 

I Lessons on the Soil 

1 Origin. First show that by the soil is meant that 
comparatively thin portion of the earth's surface which, 
under proper conditions, is capable of supporting plant life. 
Then, explain how rocks are disintegrated by means of what 
is called weathering, that is through the action of air and 
water and changes of temperature upon them. Explain also 
how animal and vegetable remains become constituent parts 
of the soil, and how moving ice and water have been 
agencies of the work. Very brief notice may be given to 
residual soils. 

2 Kinds of Soil. Soils are classified according to tex- 
ture and composition into sand, clay, loam, gumbo, alkali, 
hard-pan, and their combinations. Show the meaning of 
sand as an element in varying proportion in soils and bring- 
out the chief distinguishing points of each kind of soil. If 
possible, see that pupils have opportunity to examine the 
different kinds, and that they understand what is meant by 
surface soil and subsoil. 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 187 

J Chemical Elements and Fertility. This lesson will be 
more difficult, as it will be chiefly one of abstract descrip- 
tion. It will be well, however, to name over the chemical 
elements of fertility in the soil, and to give particular atten- 
tion to those which are most likely to become exhausted 
through long and injudicious tillage, as nitrogen, phos- 
phorus, potassium and calcium. 

4 Reneiving the Soil. First, bring out the point that 
crop-production means soil-exhaustion, and that the ele- 
ments, or at least some of them, must be continually re- 
turned by some kind of device, or profitable tillage will 
cease. Show that soil-fertility may be kept up in at least 
three ways: (i) by conservation by means of crop rota- 
tion; (2) by manuring; (3) by the use of commercial fer- 
tilizers. By means of a number of specific examples make 
the pupils see just what each of these processes means. For 
example clover and alfalfa will restore the nitrogen 
exhausted by wheat. Explain how. 

5 Irrigation and Drainage. These topics' furnish abun- 
dant opportunity for an extended lesson. Growing crops 
must have water, but they may be given too much. Show 
specifically what nature accomplishes, both by way or irri- 
gating and draining soils ; that its work, in these respects, 
is done almost perfectly in some localities and very imper- 
fectly in others. In the latter case man has supplemented 
nature : ( i ) by conserving the moisture by means of 
so-called "dry- f arming" ; (2) by conducting to the soil the 
water from mountain streams and artificial reservoirs ; 



188 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

(3) by means of draining-ditches and tiling. Such agencies 
as wind, heat, and vegetation constantly extract the water 
from the soil. Explain capillary attraction of water in soil. 

II The Plant 

1 The Parts of a Plant. This may be a simple analysis 
of the plant as roots, trunk, branches, bark, woody part, 
leaves, blossoms, fruit, and the like, with the object of 
making clear the general idea that each part has its par- 
ticular function in the plant's life and growth. 

2 How Plants Grow. Here the study of the plant may 
become more detailed. Show how plants drink from the 
soil through the hairlike root fibers, and the meaning of root 
tubercles; also how the sap circulates so that the nutritious 
liquid substance is carried through the woody part from 
the roots to the branches and leaves, and how the carbon 
absorbed by the leaves from the atmosphere is conveyed 
through the bark as nourishment for the roots. 

5 The Fruit Product. The consummation of all plant 
life is the fruit. This is preceded, however, by the flower or 
blossom, which usually has the double function of being 
beautiful and of being transformed into the fruit. Show 
how nature produces, along with the fruit, seed for the next 
generation. Bring out and illustrate the various methods of 
pollenization, and explain, if time will allow, how crosses 
and hybrids occur. 

4 Plant Propagation. Illustrate by means of simple 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 189 

experiments how several kinds of seed germinate, as beans, 
corn, wheat. Also illustrate by means of pictures or actual 
specimens propagation by budding and grafting. Questions 
regarding seed purity and vitality in both desirable plants 
and weeds will be of interest. Discuss planting and caring 
for familiar fruit trees and garden vegetables. 

5 The Return to the Soil. Show how the purposes of 
nature are best subserved by returning through decay to 
the native elements of the soil all the portions of the plant 
not actually required for use. 

Ill Enemies of . Plants 

I Plant Diseases. Discuss and illustrate by examples 
such matters as fungus growths, showing that fungi are 
living plants that grow and feed upon other plants, and that 
they reproduce by spores rather than seeds. Have brought 
in before the class a number of these parasitic specimens, 
as ergot in corn, smut in wheat, scab in potatoes, and blight 
in apple leaf. 

<? Cheat and Weeds. Show how some cereals, for 
example, tend to degenerate into so-called "cheat" when 
the seed is not properly selected, and how weeds hinder the 
growth of plants bv absorbing the moistiire and other neces- 
sary plant ingredients from the soil. Weeds, however, 
when turned under with the plow, may benefit the soil for 
the next succeeding crop. 

5 Insect Pests. Here the materials will be very abun- 



190 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

dant. Specimens of grasshopper, chinch bug, caterpillar, 
potato beetle, and others may easily be brought before the 
class. Examine a few of these pests in their three forms; 
larva, pupa, and adult. If possible, witness them at their 
work of destruction, and learn just how the injury to the 
plant is effected. Study then the best known methods 
(i) of prevention, (2) of destruction of these noxious 
insects, not forgetting to consider the usefulness of birds in 
the latter connection. 

4 Improper Planting and Care. Man himself is often 
indirectly the enemy of the plant through improper planting 
and care. Much wheat, for example, is sown on unpre- 
pared ground, while corn is carelessly tended. Misman- 
agement should be charged to ignorance, while the work of 
the intelligent, educated farmer may be shown by way of 
contrast. 

5 Improper Propagation and Cultivation. The instruc- 
tion here should emphasize specific methods of seed-selection 
and seed-breeding and scientific methods of cultivation. Do 
not make the lessons too advanced, but make use of contrast 
and example. 

IV Farm Products 

I Some Staple Crops. This topic had better be devoted 
at first to consideration of the geographical distribution of 
the great staple crops of the United States. Show how soil 
and clamatic conditions determine the limits of the corn, 
wheat, and cotton belts, and the like. 



ELEMENTARY AGEICULTURE 191 

2 Wheat. Consider qualities and preparation of soil 
for wheat, also time and methods of sowing spring anfl 
winter varieties. Discuss also seed-selection. Then follow 
the crop through such processes as cutting, stacking, sweat- 
ing, threshing, storing, and marketing. Finally, take up the 
bread-making question. 

J Corn. Extent and importance of this great American 
crop. Value as a food for men and animals. Manner of 
preparing soil, selecting seed, planting, tending, and har- 
vesting. In large cities it will be necessary to have specimens 
of corn in its various stages of growth. 

^ Cotton. Treat this subject in a similar manner as 
those above, considering the two chief varieties. Give spe- 
cific attention to the manner of picking, baling, and ginning 
cotton, with a final discussion of the wide use to which it is 
put. 

5 Hay and Pasture. Emphasize the fact that these are 
necessary adjuncts of every complete farm. Discuss tame 
and wild, or prairie, grasses for hay and pasture. Clover, 
alfalfa, timothy and bluegrass will have special considera- 
tion ; also the details of haymaking. 

V Orchard and Garden Produce 

I As a Means of Support. Treat this topic in the same 
manner as number one under Subject IV, showing where 
the most productive and profitable orchards and gardens are 
located, with reference to climate and center of population, 
and why. 



192 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

2 Some Staple Fruits. Discuss in detail methods of 
producing apples, peaches, pears, apricots, oranges, and 
lemons; also some of the most important small fruits, 
including those of the vineyard. 

3 Some Staple Vegetables. Treat this topic in the same 
manner as topic 2 above, placing the emphasis upon means- 
of successful production, and include potatoes in the list. 

4 Marketing. There are two aspects of the general 
subject V; namely, the production of fruit and vegetables 
for family use, and their production for purposes of a 
livelihood. Show that the latter is conducted on a much 
larger scale, and that there is nearly always a problem of 
finding a quick, convenient market. 

5 Floriculture. Discuss briefly the vocation of florist, 
but speak more in detail of floriculture as constituting a part 
of the home life. Pay particular attention to methods of 
raising a number of the most familiar flowering plants. 

VI Domestic Service Animals 

1 Breeds and Purposes of Horses. Contrast high- 
grade, standard-bred horses with Indian ponies and "plugs" ; 
also draft horses with coach and driving horses. The 
importation of registered horses. 

2 Care and Training of Horses. How to feed and 
groom, and how to break a horse for work, riding, and 
driving, are important sub-topics here ; also shoeing and 
other means of protection and of humane treatment. 
Diseases of horses may have some mention. 



ELEMENTAKY AGKICULTUKE 193 

5 The Dairy Cozv and Dairy Produce. Selection and 
care of dairy cows for family use. Sanitary handling of 
milk, cream, and butter. 

4 Dairying as a Vocation. Visit, if possible, a large 
dairy and study methods of caring for and milking cows and 
of manufacture of butter and marketing the dairy product. 
Observe a milking-machine at work. 

5 Bee Culture. How bees gather and store honey. 
Flowering plants necessary. Queen bee workers and drones. 
Swarming and hiving. Winter protection and insect enemies 
of bees. 

I VII Domestic Animals for Food 

1 Cattle. Selection and breeding for weight, ease of 
fattening, and quality of beef. Grazing and scientific feed- 
ing. Watching for a good market. 

2 Swine. Best breeds for farm, and quality of pork. 
Quick returns. Feeding and marketing. The packing- 
house. 

5 Sheep. Twofold purpose of sheep. Production and 
use of wool. Best breeds of sheep. Sheep as foragers. 

4 Fish and Game. Fishing and hunting as an industry ; 
as an avocation. Extinction of wild game once plentiful. 
Laws for protection of fish and game. Hunter's license. 

5 Poultry. Poultry-raising on the farm ; as an indus- 
try. Various breeds of poultry. Care of poultry. Egg- 
production. 



194 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

VIII Farm Improvements and Adornments 

1 The Comfortable Farm Home. It will be easy to 
obtain a number of good plans from an architect, at least 
by sending for them. By means of these, study farmhouse 
construction externally and internally. Consider cost and 
convenience of arrangement. 

2 Care of Fences, Hedges, Lawns, and the Like. Make, 
if possible, a comparative study of models of these and con- 
trast with them broken-down fences and ill-cared-for hedges 
and lawns of the average farmer. Discover just how the 
models are acquired. Shade-trees. 

5 Implements and Labor-Saving Devices. Make com- 
parative study of present and former methods of tilling the 
soil, of harvesting, and the like, making reference to such 
conveniences as the carriage, the windmill, and the tele- 
phone. Discuss care and preservation of farm implements. 

4 Sanitary Conditions. Drainage about house and 
barns, cesspools, air and sunlight in the house and the barn. 
Conditions of wells and cisterns. Distance of barns from 
house. 

5 Society in the Country. Distance to schoolhouse and 
church, and to town or village. Means of social improve- 
ment. Literary and religious societies. Social improvement 
clubs, and the like. 

The reader will have observed by this time how easily 
each of the forty lessons outlined above may be expanded 
into five or more. 



BOOKS FOR SCHOOL LIBRARIES 

Agriculture for Beginners. — Burkett. 

Practical Agriculture. — James. 

Elements of Agriculture. — Bessey. 

Plant Breeding. — Bailey. 

First Book op Farming. — Goodrich. 

Soils and Crops of the Farm. — Morrow. 

The Book of Alfalfa. — Coburn. 

First Principles of Agriculture. — Gof. 

American Fruit Culturist. — Thomas. 

Vegetable Gardening. — Green. 

Rocks, Eock Weathering and Soils. — Merrill. 

The Soil. — King. 

Soils. — Burkett. 

Soils. — Hilgard. 

Physics of Agriculture. — King. 

Crop Growing and Crop Feeding. — Massey. 

Cereals in America — Runt. 

Grasses. — Spi'lman. 

Clovers and hoav to Groav Them. — Shaw. 

Feeds and Feeding — Henry. 

Elementaky Studies in Insect Life. — Hunter. 

Handbook for Farmers and Dairymen. — Woll. 

American Dairying. — Gurler. 

Hours Out-of-Doors. — Van Bensallaer. 

Letters to a Farm Boy. — Wallace. 



195 



CHAPTER XIV 

ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Relation to Language Study. After the young pupil has 
grown actually interested in the forms of speech and has 
begun to take some personal pride in their correct use, the 
introduction of the formal study of grammar will be com- 
paratively easy. The country is still pretty well populated 
with boys and youths who "don't see no use in studyin' 
grammar," and they are trying to speak the truth as they 
see it. But such youths, it will usually be found, have had 
no introduction to grammar through language-study, and so 
they have come upon a difficult subject too suddenly; it is 
not, from their point of view, one that is related to their 
well-being and they often resist it with enough force to 
master it if they could see its meanings and its application 
to themselves. This resistance to grammar study to the 
bitter end on the part of the youth will render his pursuit 
of it well-nigh valueless. He will lack the attitude of the 
learner, and hence there will be a possibility of forcing little 
of this strange, foreign subject down him during the term. 
So perhaps the first task of the teacher in this case is that 
of arousing the interest of the pupil in the science to be 
taught. But — 

196 



ENGLISH GRAMMAE 197 

Why Study Grammar? Eiii^lish grammar is consti- 
tuted chiefly of a set of arbitrary or conventional rules and 
principles to which it is tacitly understood the words of the 
language must conform in their uses, forms, and relations. 
These rules and principles are arbitrary in the sense that 
others might serve the purpose as well or better if we could 
select and agree upon them. They are conventional in the 
sense that one is usually regarded by so-called refined society 
as being "cultured" in proportion to his ability to use these 
forms correctly. These demands of society are, therefore, 
effective as an incentive to the study of the correct forms of 
expression at least. A knowledge of these forms is some- 
what necessary to clearness of expression in both speaking 
and writing. Misunderstandings of a serious nature may 
sometimes occur through a mere slip of the tongue or pen. 
Some small insight into the history of a language is often a 
means of arousing an interest in its formal study, for this 
insight changes a dry, dead fact into a living, growing thing. 
This very subject is too often regarded by the young 
teacher as an isolated body of rules and principles that 
simply must be learned. But such a teacher is not himself 
awake to the living aspects of the subject and he cannot 
expect his pupils to be ; he is not properly acquainted wath 
the subject himself and he is urged to undertake heroically 
two things : (i) through the assistance of some more schol- 
arly person to secure a brief, concise historical treatise on 
the English language and study it carefully; (2) to secure 
in the same manner the best beginner's Latin book and study 



198 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

that diligently. By these means he will obtain a new and 
more vital point of attack in his study and teaching of Eng- 
lish grammar. He will be studying all around his subject 
as advised in a previous chapter of this book. 

A Practical Subject. After what has been said above, 
it may not be necessary that the teacher be cautioned about 
requiring pupils to learn the rules and principles of grammar 
simply because they are something every gentleman and 
lady should know. All knowledge that is worth while is for 
use in accomplishing something. And so it may be said 
that the best and most legitimate purpose of the study of 
English grammar is that of acquiring a set of rules of prac- 
tice in the use of the language. There is often too much 
time expended in the work of committing to memory and 
reciting orally the conjugations and declinations. This mere 
memorizing must not proceed in advance of practice. A 
pupil may know every one of these things by "heart," and 
yet fail utterly to think them in their practical relations. In 
fact, this condition of affairs is painfully common in our 
public schools to-day. This error of time-wasting can be 
obviated largely by means of synopses in the case of the 
verb-forms, and also by requiring pupils to give and use in 
sentences illustrations of the various word forms with which 
they are not thoroughly familiar. 

The pupil is to understand, then, from the beginning that 
grammar is not only something to be used but something 
to help him to win some desired advantage. It is not an 
unworthy thing for the pupil to believe that the mastery of 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR 199 

this subject will help him to obtain some coveted position in 
the business or social world. If in relation to the study of 
grammar it is understood that pupils will be ranked and 
graded on a basis of both what they say and how they say 
it, there will be much greater effort toward practical 
improvement. If, for example, in the course of the debate 
in the Friday afternoon exercises, the decision is rendered 
not merely in accordance with the number of points made 
but on the basis of the number of points stated clearly and 
grammatically, there will result a living interest in the 
practical application of grammar. 

It may seem a matter of amusement, but it is nevertheless 
true, that many a youth acquires his first real interest in 
grammar study at the time of the awakening of his sex- 
instinct, at the age of about fourteen or fifteen. This is a 
very significant fact, of which only the wise teacher can 
take advantage in matters of both instruction and discipline. 
The young man is now naturally very ardently in love with 
at least one young girl in the school and he has a tender 
regard for nearly all of them. He suddenly becomes unusu- 
ally interested in making a creditable appearance ; and 
his interest will manifest itself through a renewed effort 
to acquire the practical use of the language. He now does 
everything with reference to the special object of his affec- 
tion. He is conscious of much effort to use fitting words 
and to frame grammatical sentences for her sake. In such 
cases we have the best possible example of a living interest 
in a so-called "dry" subject of study. 



200 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

The Meaning of Terms. In the course of grammar>» 
teaching there is often too little attention given to the 
matter of acquiring rules and definitions understandingly. 
In his experience with hundreds of teachers in institutes 
and as many county graduates who were reviewing their 
grammar the author has been surprised at the general lack 
of real insight into these matters. The typical instance has 
been found to be this : The student or young teacher knows 
his definition and can usually repeat it readily from memory, 
but he does not think its meaning, and hence he cannot use 
it intelligently. Take, for example, the word "modifier," a 
part of a sentence that limits the meaning of some other 
part. This definition has probably been held long as a mere 
matter of memory. But how does one word or expression 
limit another ? It would seem that the only way to teach this 
comparatively simple matter effectively is to present a series 
of expressions showing a variety of modifiers, and by means 
of the Socratic method to develop in the mind of the pupil 
an understanding of the principle involved. 

Again take the word "participle" (from parts-capere) , a 
word or expression that partakes of both the nature of a 
verb and that of a noun or adjective. It is always part verb 
and part one of two other things. But to teach the participle 
intelligently illustrate its double use many times and make 
detailed inquiry into its meaning. Take, for example, the 
sentence : By studying faithfully he won the prize. "Study- 
ing" is a participle having the construction of a noun, but 
its verb nature is modified by the adverb "faithfully." 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR 201 

Again, What are correlatives ? It seems that there are very 
few among the classes named above who could answer the 
question intelligently, although many could give illustrations 
of the use of correlatives. Correlatives are not necessarily 
both the same part of speech, but they almost always bear 
the same relation to two words or expressions of equal rank. 
This same intensive study is advised in regard to such terms 
as iniinitive, conjunctive adverb, adjunct, and demon- 
strative pronoun. In fact, it is a good principle of 
pedagogy to be observed in all classes, that the rule or 
definition to be memorized must be also understood. A 
common-school graduate came into an advanced grammar 
class with a fixed,, verbal memory of this puny definition : 
"An adverb is a word that tells 'how.' " His thinking had 
gone only far enough to deduce the converse, "Anything 
that tells how is an adverb." It was a very difificult matter 
to dispossess him of the childish habit of defining 
grammatical terms. 

Rules of Practice. In teaching English grammar there 
are always certain matters that ought to have the greatest 
prominence : 

/ Analysis. The work of analysis cannot be carried on 
too persistently throughout the entire course. Something 
has already been written with reference to going into the 
meaning of the parts of sentences and securing their logical 
relationships and implications. But the great instrument of 
grammar-study is sentence-analysis. A poor substitute for 
this, and a thing which with many young teachers grows 



303 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

into a kind of fetichism, is diagramming. With them the 
whole sentence and every separate part of it are for the 
sake of the diagram. It is not so much, "What does this 
part of the sentence modify ?" as "Where can I put it so that 
it will look well?" Strange to say, many such persons can 
diagram beautifully, but they cannot analyze a sentence 
intelligently. On the other hand, the person who can analyze 
a sentence can either make a diagram or do without it. The 
best excuse for the use of the diagram is that it furnishes a 
very convenient and readily-made picture of the analysis. 
But while the diagram is for the sake of the analysis the 
converse statement is not true. It must be remembered, 
also, that even the analysis is not for its own sake but for 
the sake of a proper interpretation of the printed page. 
Therefore, the sentences for analysis should be such as are 
found in good literature. 

Oral analysis is one of the most profitable exercises in 
grammar-teaching, but for the reason that it requires so 
much time many abandon it altogether and fall into the habit 
of having everything diagrammed. But try this plan: 
Do not attempt as a rule to bring out a complete and full 
analysis of every sentence, but analyze with a purpose. Take 
for example, in a series of lessons, the analysis of clauses 
only, in another series the analysis of phrases, and so on. 
Have a practical, business method and insist on its use. 
Eliminate the trivial, non-essential parts of analysis that 
merely take up time. Think of the utter uselessness of 
having every pupil who recites attempt to give every part 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR 



203 



of the analysis, even to the extent of repeating again and 
again " 'the' is an adjective element of the first class modify- 
ing the noun 'boy,' " and the Hkc. Such practice is both 
trivial and inexcusable. No wonder pupils lose interest in 
the recitation. They ought to under such circumstances. 
Then, have a method and a specific purpose in all the work 
of analysis. 

2 Parsing. This is a valuable exercise, in that it gives 
a review of nearly all the principles of grammar, and prac- 
tice in quickness of mterpretation as well. Notice this order 
of parsing nouns and verbs : 



The 



Nouns 






Verbs 


Class 






Class 


Person 






Form 


Number 






Use 


Gender 






Voice 


Syntax 






Mode 


Case 






Tense 
Syntax 
Person 
Number 


;se examples 


of written 


parsing : 




sun 


rose 


bright : 


e n 


ir it 


des 




3 


act 


bright 


s 


ind 


brighter 


n 


past 


brightest 


subj 


"sun" 


"sun' 




n 


3 







and clear. 



This method of written parsing was first introduced, it 
is said, by E. O. Lyte. It is brief, comprehensive and clear; 



304 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

and, if held rigidly to its use for a few lessons, pupils will 
apply it with much effectiveness. But its chief value lies in 
its careful use. The teacher must insist on having the pars- 
ing done by all in the order given by him in the model. Also 
require the strictest use of the letters in the abbreviations. 
No periods are used, and "s" not "sing" and "p" not 
"plural" mean respectively singular and plural. Observe 
that the syntax is given in its logical order. The construc- 
tion of a noun must be known before its case can be given. 
By means of this rigid exactness the teacher soon brings 
about uniformity of action in the minds of the pupils as 
well as in their written and oral work. They learn readily 
the fixed order decided upon in the model as, "class, person 
number, gender, syntax, case," and thereby acquire a facility 
in getting through with the lesson that is entirely foreign to 
the haphazard method. The mind of each knows just what 
to expect or look for next during the course of either the 
oral or the written work. When, however, the pupils have 
thoroughly mastered this work of parsing, it is time to drop 
it, and the fact that they can do it with such pleasing facility 
certainly is not a warrant for keeping it up throughout the 
term. 

Moral: Beware of the allurements of keeping pupils 
busy reciting the easy and familiar, as the manner of some 
is, for out of such easy-going practice comes the minimum of 
development. 

J Synthesis. If knowledge of grammar is for use and 
not merely for its own sake, then, it is very essential tha. 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR 205 

theory be accompanied by practice. Much sentence-building 
and smaller word-arrangement is necessary to illustrate and 
bring out the meanings of rules and principles. This work 
is to be done in full detail by the pupils. There is a very 
common tendency among younger teachers to omit this prac- 
tice on account of its being tedious and to concentrate the 
efforts of the class upon diagramming and reciting of conju- 
gations and declensions. That is, they emphasize the struc- 
tural rather than the functional aspect of the subject. As a 
result of this kind of teaching many common-school gradu- 
ates who can show ninety per cent or more on their diplomas 
reveal a lamentable amount of ignorance in regard to the 
practical use of their theory. These same graduates go 
about with their "I done it," and their "haven't saw," and 
their "ain't no use in talkin'," as so many examples of mis- 
management in grammar-teaching and they thus reflect dis- 
credit upon the entire course of common-school instruction. 
When will teachers acquire the temerity to grade and 
advance pupils on the basis of what they can do as well as 
on the basis of what they know? If the pupil is impressed 
with the thought from the very beginning that his promotion 
is to be determined by his practical use of, as well as by his 
knowledge of the theory of grammatical forms, then this 
much-desired result will be forthcoming. 

4 Psychological Method. No amount of mere study 
of the dictionary wall ever make one proficient in the use in 
sentences of the words it defines ; he can master them only 
through much practice. Likewise, in the study of formal 



206 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

grammar the theory must be put to use in speech forms as 
fast as it is acquired or it will become a dead weight in the 
pupil's memory. So, it is evident that the desired result 
must be brought about through continual practice. Correct 
speech forms are acquired almost wholly through imitation 
of the model expressions seen in print and heard by the 
learner. The theory will serve only to guide the practice 
and to verify the results. The teacher must, therefore, 
seek to make the practice popular by means of correct exam- 
ples on his own part, and through other devices. Some 
teachers go too far and by assuming the airs of too high a 
degree of perfection appear pedantic and affected. A slight 
variation occasionally from rigid rules will lead young 
pupils to feel that the teacher is at least human and worthy 
of imitation. Even an occasional use of slang is pardonable. 
It is the habitual, unconscious use of slang expressions that 
is so objectionable. 

5 False Syntax. There is much serious objection to 
the practice many teachers make of using examples of false 
syntax. It is a bad rule of pedagogy that requires a pupil to 
become thoroughly acquainted with the nature of an error 
in order that he may avoid it. How would it do to give 
the boy a course in criminal coriduct in order to make a 
good, law-abiding citizen? Few would risk such a method 
of procedure, and yet many follow a similar one in grammar- 
teaching. Supplementary books on "Errors in English" 
and "Examples of False Syntax" are brought into use too 
freely. A study of such books tends to emphasize habits 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR 207 

of speech that are already too deeply imbedded in the nerve 
cells of the erring pupils. Far better would be the practice 
of reading off a list of correct expressions to pupils and 
requiring them to bring to the class a number of such 
examples to be read aloud. There must be the freest possi- 
ble use in the pupils' presence of the correct expressions, so 
that the latter may come, through repetition, to have' a 
familiar sound. Require pupils to repeat these many times 
with a consciousness of the principle or rule they illustrate 
rather than of the error for which they are substituted. 
Here are some examples: 

If I were he. 

Whom did you meet? 

I have no pencil. 

"We thought it to be him. 

They said it was she. 

There must be developed among the pupils a sentiment 
favorable to the use of these better forms. Often a good 
way to correct a pupil's error is to repeat his statement in 
the desired form. Two ends are to be sought in this con- 
nection, (i) that the pupil become conscious of the correct 
form of statement, and (2) that he resolve mentally to use 
it in the future. 



REFERENCES 

Eeference texts in English grammar are exceedingly plentiful. Tho 
reader is referred to Lyte, Hoenshel, Hyde, Scott & Buck, Eead & 
Kellogg, and Carpenter. 

For the brief Latin course referred to above, Collar & Daniels 
First Latin Book (Ginn) is recommended. 

For the historical language study, see Mikel John's History of the 
English Language (Heath), 75 pp. 

Jacoby's Eand-BooTc of English Grammar (Crane & Co., Topeka) 
contains a good working-outline of the subject and a brief summary 
of the history of the language. 



I 



208 



CHAPTER XIV 

HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVEENMENT 

What Is History? Before discussing methods of teach- 
ing this subject it would be well to consider what its 
nature is. But upon this matter there has long been a diver- 
sity of opinion. Herodotus says that history is investiga- 
tion and what it reveals for our understanding. In the 
judgment of Emerson and Carlyle the history of the world 
is constituted of the biography of its great men. Others 
regard history as being a record of political movements. 
On account of the prejudices that men show in relating 
what they actually witnessed, some believe that a true 
account of past events can never be rendered and that, 
therefore, history is "fiction agreed upon." 

According to the eminent philosopher Hegel, history 
is the dramatization of truth — a great series of acts in 
which men, the players, represent the thoughts of God 
and materialize them in an ever-ascending scale of concrete 
forms. His view is, of course, too metaphysical for the 
young teacher or the student, but an occasional contempla- 
tion of it may serve to keep one from the extreme opposite 
one, namely, that history is a chronicle of dates, battles, 
and changes of governmental administrations to be commit- 

209 



210 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

ted to memory. Against the latter narrow, cramping view 
of history, the young teacher is especially warned; he 
who adheres to it cannot hope to make the subject a live 
one. What is the matter and what is the remedy? An 
understanding of the remedy will reveal the cause of the 
error. If the teacher will cultivate assiduously the habit 
of studying current events through the medium of the 
daily papers and the best magazines, he will in time learn 
to regard history as a great world process that is just 
as much a fact now as it ever was. A detailed outline 
of this living method will be given later in the chapter. 

The Groundwork. The discussion now to follow will 
relate chiefly to the teaching of United States history, the 
common-school subject. This subject presupposes a knowl- 
edge of geography, and it would be well in the beginning 
to re-examine the maps and, with the pupils all attentive 
to the question, to ask why the earth's surface should be 
cut up into so many divisions great and small. Notice again 
the metes and bounds of our own continent and of our 
own grand division of it. Say something in a cursory man- 
ner about the great differences in the ages of countries and 
of the facts and causes of migration from one to another. 

Young students at the age of beginners in history are 
naturally philosophical if permitted to be, and they will 
show much interest in the question as to how nations 
originate. A discussion of this matter will lead easily to 
a consideration of the motives that prompt men to leave their 
homes and go into new and uninhabited foreign lands where 



HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT 211 

tremendous sacrifice is so imperative. The spur of neces- 
sity, the spirit of adventure, the desire for wealth, the 
zeal for religious and political freedom, and the instinct 
for home-making — these five great factors may be brought 
out by the pupils themselves under the stimulation of the 
teacher's thoughtful questioning. The value of such a 
method of beginning the study of history is not that it 
supplies the student with any new facts, but that it tends 
to give him the reflective attitude toward the events of 
history. The subject-matter is thereby rendered not merely 
structural but also functional. He is to make this a living 
subject by seeking to know not only what occurred but 
why an event took place. The interpretation of history, 
in other words, becomes an indispensable part of its study. 
The War Element.* How much space and attention 
shall war be given in consideration of this subject? The 
author recalls that his first teachers in history gave practi- 
cally the entire time to the study of war. The cause of 
the war was made out in form of one or more statements 
of fact and committed to memory. Thus, "Taxation with- 
out representation" was the memorized cause of the Revo- 
lutionary War. We committed this statement to memory 
and then rushed into the smoke of the battles. No ques- 
tions were asked about the real meaning of this statement 
and no applications were offered. It is doubtful if those 
young teachers ever gave the matter any consideration in 
their own minds. After this beginning was made there 

* See the excellent address of President Schaeffer of the N. E. A. as 
recorded in the bound volume of the proceedings, 1007. 



212 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING • 

was practically no variation of the method of the recitation. 
The exact date of each battle, the detailed movements of 
the troops, the two opposing generals, the number killed 
and wounded in each engagement, the side that won, with 
an occasional relief in the monotony resulting from a change 
in commanders-in-chief which called for some brief bio- 
graphical study — this constituted our course in United 
vStates history. We must admit that war was once the 
greatest factor in the world's history, and that for many 
centuries it was practically continuous among the leading 
races. War represents what may be considered the boy- 
hood of a race. There is a time in the life of every normal, 
well-organized boy when he does, and perhaps ought to 
do, some fighting. Such practice promotes a healthy growth 
of the muscular and nervous tissues and makes for manly 
courage, it is said. There are two or three things that 
the young student of history might well have brought to 
his attention in this connection. One is that some modern 
wars are carried on largely in the interests of designing 
politicians and capitalists. Another is that there is a strong 
movement among nations in favor of international arbi- 
tration as a means of settling all disputes. If this could 
be established securely, disarmament would follow and the 
tremendous expense of equipping and maintaining armies 
and navies would be cut off. Tradition and custom are 
perhaps the chief opponents of disarmament among the 
civilized nations, just as in one state in our nation it has 
always been thought necessary for every man to go heavily 



HISTOKY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT 213 

armed so that every other man will be afraid of him and 
let him alone. One evidence of the decreasing severities of 
warfare is that there is among modern nations a tendency 
to insist on the use of smooth, antiseptic cartridge balls on 
the battlefield — missiles that temporarily disable but do not 
kill the victim. 

Diplomacy vs. War. W^hile the war question is being 
discussed by the thoughtful members of the class it might 
be well to remind them that many impending wars are 
averted by diplomacy. Bring out the fact that it is the 
custom of the leading nations to maintain an able repre- 
sentative at every foreign seat of government of any impor- 
tance, and that it is a part of the business of this official to 
assist in adjusting differences arising between his own 
government and the foreign one at whose seat he is sta- 
tioned, as well as to look after the private claims of the 
citizens of his own country. So it is probably fair to 
say that war is gradually becoming a smaller factor in the 
real progress of the nations. Such matters in modern times 
as important legislative enactments, the opening of great 
waterways, the construction of transcontinental railways, 
the inventions that facilitate rapid and easy communication 
among the masses, the ever-widening dissemination of sci- 
entific methods in agricultural and mechanical pursuits, and 
means of transmitting the news of the world's happenings 
to every part of the globe — these are some of the subjects 
that must have an important place in every Avell-written and 
well-taught historical account, for they are absorbing more 



314 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

and more the attention of the people at large, and detracting 
from their interest in wars and the trivial quarrels among 
nations. On the basis of these mighty agencies there is 
slowly being built up a fuller consciousness of the common 
brotherhood of man. 

Current History. In this feature of the subject there 
is to be discovered the 'missing link of history-teaching. 
Just as the author was taught in his early boyhood that 
the history of the United States ended at about the time 
of the surrender of General Lee, so will the teacher who 
is not in touch with current events regard history as a 
body of dead facts to be committed to memory, and he 
will present it to his class accordingly. If historical events 
of the past are to be understood and not merely memorized, 
they must be interpreted in the light of the living present. 
There is no shortcoming that is more to be deplored and 
that is more inexcusable than that of some otherwise good 
teachers who wholly ignore current history. 

But what is to be done to enable the schoolma'am (who is 
more frequently in error here than the schoolmaster) to real- 
ize that history is actually going on to-day? Let us be 
practical. She must learn to read intelligently a first-class 
daily paper and at least one standard magazine that reviews 
widely the world's greatest events. It would not be inap- 
propriate to have the school board pay for both of these 
and to consider them a part of the library. Just at this 
time (February, 1909) there is pending a serious agrarian 
revolution in Russia, anti-Japanese legislation in Cali- 



HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT 215 

fornia that threatens to disturb existiiig relations between 
the United States and Japan ; an attempt on the part of 
reactionary officials in China to overthrow the very im- 
portant progressive policy recently adopted in that country ; 
and no end of contention in our national and state legisla- 
tures over corporations and matters affecting transporta- 
tion. There is also now being built by this country one of 
the greatest canals of all history, and yet there are teachers 
at work in many schoolrooms to-day who have never heard 
of these things. 

The practice of discussing in outline some matter of 
current interest before the entire school is a commendable 
one. In connection with the opening exercises, for example, 
in five or ten minutes' time there might be given considerable 
detail as to the method and magnitude of the Panama 
Canal undertaking. At another time some new law passed 
by the legislature affecting the public schools might be 
taken up. The passing away of some person of public 
note w^ould furnish the occasion for another talk. Thus 
there would be a tendency to broaden the consciousness of 
the pupils and to substitute something far better for many 
of the morbid ideas that flit through their minds as a daily 
habit. But the chief meaning of teaching current events, to 
be emphasized here, is that it tends to change the history 
of one's own country from a dead subject into a living 
one. The pupil is by means of it made to. feel that the 
progress of the race and the people of his own country 
is as much a fact to-day as ever, and that this progress 



216 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

has vital relation to his well-being, both now and in the 
future. History is a factor in defining his course. If this 
last statement be true, then it illustrates the secret of 
arousing interest in any subject, i. e., the pupils must feel a 
personal relationship to the subject. 

The Recitation in History. A well-written history 
text will lead to a logical manner of presenting the sub- 
ject, but unfortunately not all the texts in use are of such a 
character. The history of the United States is naturally 
divided into a number of important epochs or periods 
extending from one crisis or turning-point in events to the 
next. The teacher must of necessity be prepared to supple- 
ment the text faulty in respect to its division. Perhaps no 
better suggestion can be given here than that he supply 
himself with two or three good reference works on the 
subject. These supplementary volumes are, moreover, 
almost indispensable in assisting his understanding and 
memory in the use of the adopted text. 

There can be much precious time wasted in the school 
in making long, detailed outlines of the lessons, but another 
extreme perhaps fully as bad is to make none. Few pupils 
will fall into the practice of making outlines unless required 
to do so and still fewer know how to make a good, helpful 
one unless they are shown specifically. The chief purpose 
of the outline in history-study is to aid the memory by 
means of bringing the mere titles of events into their proper 
logical relation. To give the outline too much detail is 
confusing. The tedious, bunglesome exponent system is 



HISTOEY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT 217 

abominable and ought never to have been invented. Yet 
some teachers use it so extensively as to make it a mat- 
ter of absorbing interest. They are really conducting a class 
in outlining, with the events of history used as mere matter 
of illustration. 

^ But if the teacher is able to step to the board — or 
perhaps better have some member of the class do so — 
and in less than one minute jot down from memory the 
series of statements given below he can make all the outline 
necessary for this topic. The headings are taken from 
Thorpe's History of the United States. A good outline, 
unless one is "cramming" for an examination, is always 
suggestive rather than recitative. 

OUTLINE 

The Neav Industrial Era (1885-1900) 

I Cleveland's first administration. 

1 Public questions, nature of. 

2 Eegulation of Immigration. 

3 The Interstate Commerce Act. 

4 Pan-American Congress. 

5 Department of Labor Created. 

6 The President and the Tariff. 

7 The Election of 1888. 

n Harrison's administration. 

Etc., etc., for the next day's outline. 

This method of outlining will allow practically all the time 
for the discussion. 

Civil Government. If the young student is to under- 
stand, and become thoroughly interested in, this subject, he 
must first be made more conscious of the conditions of 



218 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

authority in his immediate environment. The systems of 
government with which he has the closest touch are those of 
the home and the school, and it would be a very helpful 
introduction to the study of the higher municipal forms of 
government to consider for a day or two the logic and the 
necessity of these lower, more familiar forms. 

Home, in his Philosophy of Education, says that the 
underlying idea in the home is obedience. This implies 
some kind of government. We may be surprised to have 
it said that such a rule obtains in the modern home. "Inde- 
pendence" is the word that is suggested as a substitute to 
express the conditions of government in some of our most 
modern homes, so-called. In any event, the students here 
considered may doubtless be brought to see the necessity 
of some kind of government in the home, and that, while 
obedience is perhaps the best and most essential law, this 
law is fittingly realized when its reciprocal, authority, is 
tempered by parental affection and parental consideration. 
There is a very prevalent idea among adolescent children 
that the authority of parent or teacher is one of meanness 
and arbitrariness. iVt this time the personality of the 
boy or girl is expanding so fast that he is somewhat natu- 
rally inclined to regard any kind of government that touches 
him as a galling yoke. 

It will be well, therefore, to dwell briefly on the justifica- 
tion of authority in the home, and the source of the teach- 
er's authority in the. school. Trace the latter back to the 
board of education and from them to the patrons themselves, 



HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT 219 

who have delegated them, showing finally that the teacher 
is under contract to rule the school. It is exceedingly 
important that the teacher make out a clear case of justifica- 
tion for his exercise of authority in the school. In the con- 
nection we may show that a public official is really a public 
servant pledged to execute the law ; also that the teacher 
himself is one of these servants, and under contract and 
pledged to teach and govern the school, and guilty of viola- 
tion of his contract if he fail to perform his duty. Thus 
give civil government a conscious meaning in the minds 
of the pupils and they will be rendered more amenable to 
the discipline of the school. 

The Departments of Government. It is now time to 
bring up for consideration the fact that we have three 
departments of government, and how each is constituted, and 
what it stands for. The state government will serve best 
to illustrate these matters. Alake the pupils' slowly expand- 
ing conception of government as concrete in its reference 
as possible by helping them to understand the meaning 
of legislative, judicial and executive departments of the 
home state government. During the biennial session of the 
state legislature follow in the newspaper with them the 
doings of that body and read in their hearing some of the 
text of an interesting bill. If the state capital is within 
easy reach, a visit to the galleries of the two legislative 
halls will be most profitable. Remember that it is this 
knowledge of acquaintance that makes it possible for pupils 
to think in relation to the lessons learned. So, the judiciary 



220 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

can best be studied in the same way. It is not enough for 
pupils merely to commit to memory the statement that 
"The judicial department interprets, the laws," although 
they are often given ten on examination for making this 
statement. What does "interpreting the laws" mean in 
actual practice? All reasonable provision must be made 
for the members of the class to visit the various courts 
and witness the proceedings there. The police, justice, 
district and higher courts should be visited once each if a 
visit to them be at all convenient. 

The Various Forms. After a careful inquiry into the 
real workings of these lower forms of government the 
mind of the learner will be prepared to consider national 
affairs. First, however, one or two other matters should 
be brought to his consciousness. Review briefly the mean- 
ings of the different forms of government, monarchical — 
nominal and real — bureaucratic, democratic, and the like. 
Make especially clear the meaning of a republican form of 
government as distinguished from a pure democracy. And, 
then, show how one sphere of government authority may 
exist within the domains of another — for example, the city, 
township, county, and state, each supreme within its own 
limits of jurisdiction, and yet in a sense subordinate to a 
higher form. After these observations are made it will 
be an easier matter for the student to understand the true 
nature of the one and the many referred to in the motto of 

The United States. The study of the foundation and 
the meaning of the national government will naturally glow 



HISTOKY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT ggl 

with a light of its own after the kind of instruction outUned 
above. There is little more to be written on the subject. 
With the history of the country fresh in the young students' 
minds and proper patriotic feelings aroused in their hearts, 
they may be expected to enter into conscious relation to 
their own national government. The federal constitution 
may now be taken up and analyzed effectively. But the 
great gain growing out of the use of the method, and the 
one the author is most anxious not to have the reader over- 
look, is on the side of memory. The student taught by this 
method will not find it necessary to strain himself in order 
to remember what the constitution says in exact words, for 
he can think intelligently in relation to its utterances, and 
this fact itself means a good memory of its substance. The 
constitution of the United States has become a part of his 
permanent knowledge. 

In considering the various clauses of the federal consti- 
tution with reference to the rights and prerogatives of the 
several states and of citizens of the state or of the nation, it 
is best to proceed in the manner outlined above in the dis- 
cussion of the three departments of government. That is, 
give every important clause all possible reference to cur- 
rent and recent events and to present conditions. The sim- 
ple application of the interstate-commerce laws with ref- 
erence to the manufacture, sale, and transportation of some 
familiar commodity or luxury will serve as an illustration. 
Such matters as the rights of a citizen of one state in the 
territory of another state; the federal jurisdiction over gov- 



222 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

ernment lands, or the Indians, or the liquor question; the 
contentions of two adjoining states over the waters of a 
river ; the extradition of criminals ; the differences in rail- 
road passenger rates ; the workings of the government 
experiment stations — some of these matters will have at 
least a local reputation to the members of almost every 
school. The teacher who keeps in touch with current 
events will naturally interpret history and the constitution 
in this refreshing manner, but the one who does not study 
current history will cling to the old, cramming method of 
drilHng and training the pupil to "remember just what 
the book says." 

Teaching Patriotism. Finally, the matter of teaching 
patriotism will come up for a new kind of interpretation. 
The usual method of arousing patriotic sentiment through 
the study of various wars is perhaps worth much, but there 
is no doubt a diminishing series of values of this character as 
the study proceeds from the early wars waged in defense 
of liberty and independence to those carried on in behalf 
of conquest and aggrandizement. Then, there is to be 
added to this the very common practice of celebrating as 
holidays the birthdays of our national heroes and statesmen 
with appropriate exercises. In order to keep alive and to 
intensify patriotism legislative enactments in some of the 
states have required that the flag be kept floating over the 
school buildings on all but stormy school days. All of these 
practices are doubtless of some value in instilling patriotic 
feelings by way of suggestion and imitation. 



HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT 223 

But true patriotism has its source in dififerent principles 
of procedure and is not necessarily taught so directly. If 
the pupil be brought up in a good home where all the neces- 
sities of life and health are supplied and where intelligent 
parental care is exercised in safeguarding the child's char- 
acter ; if this same child be taught to obey and to work, and 
to achieve in proportion to his years ; if the laws* of the 
school in which he studies, and of the state and nation 
in which he lives, be administered in accordance with 
principles of strictness and justice and equity — then, it is 
evident that the growing youth will naturally learn to regard 
these institutions as sacred, and his heart Vvill beat strong 
in their defense. He will be a real patriot. Anarchy and 
disrespect for law are bred in exactly the opposite way : 
by carelessness and indifference of parents in their treat- 
ment of children in the home, where evil habits are acquired ; 
by the failure of teachers to require strict obedience to 
just and impartial rules in the school ; by the insincere 
and irregular manner in which public officials execute 
municipal and statute laws, and the like. 

We must learn to live more nobly and more intelligently, 
and then the true sentiments of patriotism will naturally 
become evolved in the minds of the young who are reared 
among us. 

* It has been suggested that, as a means of intensifying the pupil's 
conscious relation to law and order, there be organized in the school 
a moot court with all the necessary officials, and that some minor 
misdemeanors against the rules he tried by it. If carefully conducted, 
such a trial as this might profitably be substituted once a month for the 
Friday afternoon rhetoricals. 



REFERENCES 

I 

Foster: Beference Manual and Outlines of United States His^ 
tory (Crane & Co., Topeka). 

Pkice: Topics and Beferences in American History (College 
Press, Manhattan, Kan.). This is a carefully prepared out- 
line and is suitable for any grade of work. 

II 

MiLO A. Tucker: Education; Vol. 22, p. 220, "Modern Methods 
of Teaching History." 

Smith Burnham: Educational Beview; Vol. 27, p. 521, "His- 
tory in the Schools." 

Griggs: Moral Education (B. U. Huebsch, New York); Ch. XX, 
"Ethical Instruction through History." 

Ill 

Prof. J. D. Crawford: Education; Vol. 22, p. 281, "Why Do 
We Study History?" 

MuNSTERBERG: Psychology and Life (Houghton, Mifflin); pp. 
179-228, "Psychology and History." A scholarly address. 

West: General History (Allyn & Bacon); 2 vols. An excel- 
lent general history, ancient and modern. 



224 



CHAPTER XVI 

PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE 

Purposes of Instruction. Among the most apparent pur- 
poses for which instruction in physiology and hygiene is to 
be given may be mentioned first the care and protection of 
the body. 

During his growing years the pupil, if in normal health, 
feels so exceedingly buoyant that physical debility is scarcely 
conceivable to him. Especially during the periods of ado- 
lescence and youth he is inclined to dissipate his energies 
with all the lavishness of a millionaire spendthrift. It 
will, therefore, be somewhat difficult for both parents and 
teachers to convmce him that the pleasures of middle life 
and the serenity that may belong to old age are going to 
depend much upon the manner in which he treats or mis- 
treats his body while young. 

A second purpose here, and it is only a corollary of the 
first one, is the direct care of the health. Every intelligent 
person must in time become his own chief physician. That 
is, he must learn to understand so well the laws of his 
own organism that he can, by taking care, preserve for 
himself that continuous good health which is the natural 
right and possession of one who is well born. Not only 

225 



326 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

must he understand these laws but he must be led into 
the practice of them until they become fixed habits. It 
can be shown that the body responds to these desirable, 
well-acquired habits in a way that tends to preserve the 
physical health. Physicians contend, on the other hand, 
that if, for example, a child could be subjected to sudden 
changes of temperature resulting for a few times in sore 
throat, this result will become a habit. That is, the same 
kind of exposure of less degree of intensity will afterward 
be necessary to bring about the same unpleasant result. 

A third purpose of the study is that of preparing the body 
for the endurance of a reasonable amount of strain and 
work, and this implies some knowledge, on the part of the 
teacher, of the principles of calisthenics. So there must be 
created in the mind of the child a desire for a well-devel- 
oped, symmetrical physical form and for such a seasoning 
of all the muscles through intelligent exercise as will make 
bodily endurance possible. "Big, soft baby," is the term 
often appropriately applied to the sixteen-year-old youth 
or maiden, and physical collapse under the strain of hard 
work is likely to be the future experience of such a one. 
In relation to the study of physiology and hygiene, therefore, 
the teacher must be aware of every possible opportunity to 
exemplify the matter of training the body for endurance. 
The ideal in this respect is that the pupil first have the 
desire for a strong, symmetrical physique and that he 
form the little habits of conduct necessary to secure this 
end. Clear distinction must be made here between mere 



HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMEiNT 327 

awareness of the necessity of doing a thing and the habit of 
doing it. The really educated pupil does not merely know 
that he ought to sit and walk erect, and take full breaths 
of pure air, and exercise certain parts of the body, but he 
has been led into the habit of performing these acts. 

A fourth purpose of the study of physiology and hygiene 
is to enable the learner to observe and use intelligently some 
of the simple mind-body relations. The pupil in the public 
school should be made to realize that fatigue and painful 
ailments are a hindrance to study, and that any misuse of 
the body will prove to be detrimental to the most effective 
use of the mind ; and that rest and relaxation and exercise 
and work all have important relations to mind-development. 
The successful teacher will know much about these mat- 
ters and he will help his pupils to understand their simpler 
meanings. 

Methods of Instruction. The few suggestions given 
below will relate to the presentation of .the subject of 
physiology to beginners. 

Begin with the pupil's interests. He is the starting- 
point of every well-taught lesson. As a good illustration of 
this point there is given below an outline handed in by one 
of the author's students in pedagogy, Miss Mabel A. 
Thompson. It follows: 

INTRODUCTORY WORK IX PHYSIOLOGY 

(Primary. First Lesson) 
I The first work in physiologry must necessarily be done by the 
teacher. Let her tell the children the lesson to be learned 
in an interesting yet very simple story form, avoiding all 



338 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

technical names and terms, which the child would not under- 
stand. 

II Her aim should be, — 

1 To teach the child lessons of temperance, cleanliness, neatness, 

how to exercise, what to avoid, etc. Of course only one 
thing should be presented at a time. 

2 To interest children in learning about their body, and to inter- 

est them in taking the best care of it. 

III For the first lesson let the teacher tell a story to the class, 

about the body in general, the curious house in which we 
live, its wonderful make-up, etc. Let her emphasize the 
fact that we must care for our body if we would be well. In 
the following lessons she must teach them how to care for 
the body, for hygiene cannot be learned too soon. 

PHYSIOLOGY FOR THE PRIMARY PUPIL 

(General) 

I Ends of the lesson, — 

1 To interest children in the human body. 

2 To teach some important rules of hygiene. 

3 To teach the names of different parts of the body. 

II Method of reaching ends, — 

1 Let the children take some simple physical exercise, bringing 

into play as many muscles as possible. Let them be varied, 
so that they will not become monotonous. From the first 
especial attention should be given to those closely connected 
with hygiene, such as breathing exercises. See that the 
children are interested, or they will obtain little good from 
such exercises. 

2 As the children go through the exercises, incidentally they 

should be taught the names of the joints, as the wrist, elbow, 
knee, ankle, etc.; the divisions of the body into head, trunk, 
and limbs. Later, if you wish, the names of a few impor- 
tant muscles may be learned. 

3 As soon as the children have commenced the physical exercises, 

which might well be given at times when the children showed 
restlessness, the teacher may spend a few minutes a day, 
or every few days, telling the children stories on physiology, 



PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE 229 

in some such way as presented in the "House Beautiful," 
or "The House I Live In." 
4 But in the primary grades hygiene needs the especial attention, 
and children should be taught correct habits of sitting at 
their desks, of standing, and of breathing. Even if breath- 
ing exercises can be practiced for a few minutes once or 
twice a day only, yet gradually the habit of correct and deep 
breathing will be formed. 

Keep Out the Morbid. Bloody specimens of beeves' 
hearts and the Hke have Httle place in the elementary 
physiology class. The charts and possibly the manikins, 
which should be a part of the equipment of every school, 
will be sufficient for purposes of illustration. One of the 
most foolish and inexcusable acts the author has ever 
known to be committed by way of physiological demonstra- 
tion was mentioned in a teachers' class by the demonstrator 
herself, who said, 'T dissected a live frog in the presence of 
the whole school." Now, the frog may be a mere automaton 
and dissection not cruel, therefore, in reference to the crea- 
ture itself, but there could be no better way than the one 
described to teach children directly the practice of cruelty 
to animals — a sort of thing that is already too inherent 
in the nature of boys. 

Not only bloody dissections but startling stories of heart 
failure, details of murders, and the like, must be kept out 
of the schoolroom where there are growing children, for 
young persons are very sensitive in their nervous responses 
to such descriptions. It could be shown by means of deli- 
cate instruments used in the psychological laboratory that 
frightful stories at least temporarily weaken the heart action 



330 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

of the hearer, lowering the vitaUty of his body and making 
it just that much more susceptible to some kinds of disease. 
It is pretty well agreed now that the severe cold which 
leads to many of the throat and pulmonary diseases is 
merely the result of a temporary lowering of the . vitality . 
Sometime we shall learn that bodily health is not merely a 
matter of partaking of wholesome food. There is no whole- 
some food for the body that is suffering from the shock of 
some kind of morbid excitement. What is nourishing food 
for one person proves to be veritable poison for another 
because of the latter's physical derangement, his body, as a 
result of a morbid condition of mind, not being prepared to 
receive it. Teachers need to know more than they do about 
what may be called healthy-mindedness, and about the art of 
developing such condition in their pupils. Many mature 
persons may be found to-day who have an unconquerable 
habit of worrying about some danger or calamity dreaded 
for the future. "Full of fear all the time about something 
that might happen but never does," is the way one intelli- 
gent physician puts it. Such morbid, depressing conditions 
of mind interfere in some degree with perfect healthiness of 
body and they are a serious adverse commentary upon the 
methods of some parents and teachers who have charge of 
the development of the growing mind. 

Use Simple Terms. When a small boy, the author 
learned that there is a muscle called orbicularis oris, and 
another called occipito frontalis, but he cannot recall now 
that anything in the nature of profit or pleasure has ever 



PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE 231 

been derived from this knowledge. It has been a dead 
weight all these years upon his memory. He believes that 
this latter statement is true for much of the terminology 
in modern texts in physiology and that memorizing such 
things is a waste of time. There must be a sharper dis- 
tinction made between methods of teaching physiology 
to young pupils and methods of presenting the same subject 
to medical students. After the student has become familiar 
with (i) the most common bodily functions; (2) how to 
proceed in the case of certain serious accidents; (3) the 
simple rules for caring for the body day and night, and 
(4) the kind of thinking that is most conducive to bodily 
well-being, he has about all the necessary practical knowl- 
edge of physiology and hygiene. Under these conditions his 
bodily functions will probably be performed better if it 
seldom occurs to him that he has a heart, or a stomach, or 
even an orbicularis oris. 

Be fair as regards alcoholic stimulants and narcotics. 
One of the most common faults of the teaching profession 
is lack of moderation in reference to the evil effects of 
using these things. The fact is that thousands of good 
men use some mild alcoholic beverage in moderate quan- 
tities all their lives without any very serious effects being 
noticeable, and we teachers must frankly admit as much if 
we are to instruct the young mind intelligently in regard 
to such matters as drunkenness. Indulgence in the use of 
stimulants and narcotics probably would not be looked upon 
as a dire evil if all men kept it under intelligent control. 



232 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

But warning will come to the student in proper form if he 
can be shown by specific example how the drinking-habit, 
for example, often grows into an overmastering one, reduc- 
ing an otherwise good man to poverty and degradation, and 
causing untold suffering to innocent persons. Combat this 
evil, then, by means of illustrative examples rather than 
exaggerated generalizations. 

About the most difficult matter of this nature for the 
teacher to handle is the question of smoking. Millions 
of good men, representing practically all the callings of life, 
are smoking to-day what they call good cigars. Many of 
them are the friends and relatives of us teachers, and the 
fathers of our best pupils. For several years past the 
author has been investigating carefully the smoking-habit 
among boys, and has written and talked somewhat exten- 
sively upon the subject. The example of the smoking man, 
is a powerful one in its relation to the boy. The latter 
naturally wishes to take it up, but to do so will mean almost 
certain injury to both mind and body, and a resultant loss 
of power to achieve success in mature life.* 

This question must be a divided one. Smoking does not 
seem to hurt the majority of grown men much. Although 
the practice is somewhat selfish and unclean, and very 
expensive, the smoker derives therefrom a soothed feeling 
of the body and a happier frame of mind. But in the case 
of boys this habit is most deleterious in its results, if begun 
early. There are at least half a million puny, sickly cigar- 

* See the author's article, "The Cigarette-Smoking Boy," published in 
pamphlet form by the College Press, Manhattan, Kans. 



PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE 333 

ette boys in the United States, most of whom are destined 
to rank low in mental, moral, and business efficiency all 
their lives. Records of nearly twenty-five hundred of these 
boys who are attending the public schools show that the 
great majority of them fail in their classes and drop out be- 
fore finishing the seventh grade, and take up some kind of 
subordinate work, or try to, and that they tend strongly 
toward other kinds of dissipation. A comparison of the col- 
lege records of fifty young men with the grades of fifty 
others who were non-smokers resulted in a difference in the 
average of seventeen and one half per cent in favor of the 
latter. The smokers showed more or less serious affections 
of heart, eyes, nose, throat, lungs, stomach, and nerves, and 
were in many cases thin, gaunt, and pale. 

It is probably never advisable to tell a boy that he shall 
not be allowed to smoke, for the very manhood in him 
may thus be called up in resentment of your order. It is 
better to make an appeal to his sense of honor and thus 
lead him to resolve voluntarily that he will not take up the 
practice. It is often practicable to offer him a reward 
for total abstinence until he becomes of age or finishes his 
education, with a statement that he may then do as he 
pleases about the matter with your full consent. It must 
be remembered that with a proper incentive the ordinary 
boy can easily resist the temptation to begin a bad habit, 
such as cigarette-smoking, but that he may become power- 
less to discontinue the habit after it has once been thoroughly 
formed. 



REFERENCES 



1 R. O. Beaed, M.D.: Education; Vol. 23, p. 65, "Physiology of 
Childhood." 

II 

1 Educational Beview, June, 1904; Eeport of New York Committee 
of State Science Teachers. 

Ill 

1 RowE: Physical Nature of the Child (Macmillan). Fresh and 

modern. The entire volume is well worth reading. 

2 Thompson : Brain and Personality (Dodd, Mead) ; Ch. VII, 

"Evolution of a Nervous System." 



234 



CHAPTER XVII 

GENERAL EXERCISES 

Music. The work in the public schoolroom cannot be 
complete without some kind of music daily. The nervous 
organisms of children are so sensitive to the mere cadences 
of music that even their bodies are often swayed respon- 
sively. But such responsiveness of body is always accom- 
panied by a like responsiveness of mind. Under the influ- 
ence of appropriate music the trend and the subject of 
thought are changed and one becomes at least temporarily 
a new creature. So here is suggested one of the great 
aids that music may furnish to the well-being of the 
school. It purifies and unifies sentiment and thus furnishes 
an excellent beginning for the school session. 

Some Specific Values. But many laboratory tests have 
brought out the fact that music has a number of more 
specific values for both the mature person and the child. 
It has been found that the one who merely listens atten- 
tively to pleasing music is affected measurably in the bodily 
processes. The heart tends to be accelerated or retarded 
in its movements in sympathy with the musical strains, and 
the respiration shows like changes. There may be at one 
time a soothing, quieting effect and at another a heightening 

235 



336 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

of the tonicity of the whole body. There are times when 
the soft strains of a high-grade musical selection may be 
the very best means of bringing about just such bodily 
relaxation as is requisite for the maximum of mental effi- 
ciency. It has even been recognized for a long time that 
by virtue of its soothing effects upon the nerves, music 
has certain curative properties. It unquestionably relieves 
many a tense nervous condition so that nature's work of 
recuperation can go on faster. 

But, over and above the mere sensuous pleasure it fur- 
nishes the hearers, the music of the schoolroom 'may be 
made contributive to the processes that are more particu- 
larly educative. It was stated above that the trend of the 
hearer's thoughts is changed, and this implies the neces- 
sity of the teacher's knowing how to select suitable music. 
A highly appropriate opening song sung by the members 
of the school will naturally have two results upon the mind 
of the singer: (i) He will feel at least temporarily the 
absence of any disinclination to take up the lesson tasks 
of the day and (2) if the sentiment of the selection is just 
such as it should be, he will feel himself impelled toward 
that work that is before him, and even during the course 
of the singing he will naturally frame in mental sentences 
certain resolutions of courage and good cheer. And this, 
again, is another aspect of that mental attitude of the 
learner, which has already been insisted upon so much as 
one of the indispensable prerequisites of good work in the 
schoolroom. 



GENERAL EXERCISES 237 

Under the influence of the well-selected and the well- 
rendered morning song, then, it may be said that the pupil 
forgets the little exciting incidents of the preceding 
moments on the playground, that he relaxes those parts of 
the body somewhat overstrained ami fatigued in the play 
exercises, that the work of lesson-getting and lesson-re- 
citing is made to seem inviting and even enticing to him, 
and that he is filled with mental resolutions which are at 
least equivalent to his saying, "I zvill and I can perform 
my lesson tasks." 

The reader is asked to consider the statements just 
made with unusual care, for in them is outlined in a brief 
way the all-sufficient warrant for singing in the public 
schools. It is not to be considered a matter of mere passing 
entertainment, but of bringing pupils into right relations 
to their lesson tasks. 

The Teacher's Musical Ability. Now, the foregoing 
discussion may tend to discourage some in that it may 
seem to imply the necessity of the teacher's being a sing- 
ing artist. Such, however, is not the case. While it would 
be unquestionably an advantage to the teacher if he (or 
she) were highly specialized in voice-culture and also an 
all-round music teacher, such combination of talent rarely 
exists in fact. So, the teacher can do well in the capacity of 
chorister if he possess merely a mediocre voice along with 
the proper tact and psychologic insight, as may be indicated 
below. 

It is probably too much to say that the common-school 



238 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

teacher must have had special lessons in voice-culture, 
although such training would be of very great assistance 
in the schoolroom. It is hoped, however, that no school 
board will knowingly employ a teacher who is not even 
able to carry a tune and to lead pupils in the singing. 
The wide-awake teacher can do much to improve the 
conditions of his voice and the quality of his singing by 
paying strict attention to every well-trained vocalist he 
hears. Let him note carefully the manner of articulation, 
of breathing, and of forming clear tones. And, then, he 
must miss no opportunity to join the first singing-class 
that is formed in the neighborhood, even if the instructor 
be not a highly specialized artist. 

Then, add to a fairly good voice that can form clear 
non-nasal tones in the front of the mouth, an earnest, 
enthusiastic manner, and an attitude of self-confidence, and 
you have the beginning of a leader in the song exercises. 
But this leader must step confidently before the school 
and with something that answers for a baton — at least the 
extended hand — beat off rhythmically the time of some 
famiHar tune. The teacher who can do this at the very 
opening of the first day will thereby show possession of 
one of the strong points of control over the school. The 
baton movement must not be so conspicuous as to attract 
attention, but only sufficient to keep the voices together. 
It is not wise to wave the baton high and to gesticulate 
wildly and otherwise imitate the manner of the great 
professional orchestra leader. 



GENERAL EXERCISES 239 

The singing in the schoolroom must not only engender 
a good feeling among pupils but also impart a wholesome 
sentiment. Old-fashioned, long-meter, melancholy hymn- 
tunes that make one feel as though he were at a funeral 
have no place in the schoolroom. On the other hand, quick, 
vivacious tunes, with words that speak in concrete pic- 
tures of love and life and growth and courage and work 
— tliese will help put the child into the best possible rela- 
tion to the tasks of the day. That is, by means of the 
singing, eliminate morbid-mindedness and develop healthy- 
mindedness. Do not let the tune drag and never sing a 
good song until it is w^orn out. Stop before you have 
quite enough of it, and it will always preserve its refreshing 
sentiment for the singers. 

The able leader will frequently stop the singers in the 
middle of a verse in order to give some drill or explana- 
tions. Much of the sentiment of the best song poem will 
not be appreciated by the young singers until the mean- 
ing has been explained by the teacher. Go over the words 
of the poem in detail and ask questions and invite discus- 
sions about them until all are enabled to catch the best 
sentiment of the expressions w'hile they are singing them. 
Every reasonable effort must be made to induce all to sing, 
but such effort will consist in making every one desire to 
sing rather than in the least manner forcing any one. The 
whole exercise must be marked by good feeling and spon- 
taneity. It is a mistake to place the best singers in a 
conspicuous group and to have it known or felt that some 



340 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

are not welcome in their efforts. While there will be a 
very few who sing out of tune and out of pitch, their 
discords will not be very noticeable. Let them remain with 
the whole group, and do nothing more than, perhaps, ask 
them privately not to sing too loud. 

The teacher who understands the psychology of singing 
will find it an interesting exercise to attempt in private to 
develop tone perception in this class of defectives. 

It is practically impossible to secure a song book that 
contains enough good selections to last a school for one 
year. Almost any book of school songs will contain a few 
such pieces and many cheap and rather trashy ones. There 
is danger of wearing out the few good songs and tiring 
the pupils of the whole exercise. This common fault must 
be avoided by having a large variety of pieces. One of the 
ablest chorus leaders ever known to the author always dis- 
continued the practice of a selection while the students' 
fondness for it was still at its height. This was one of his 
secrets of keeping up a remarkable interest among the 
members of his class. 

There may be time and ability in case of some schools 
to teach scientific music-reading along with the singing. 
If so, well enough, but in the great majority of the common 
schools such is not practicable as a daily exercise and it 
is found necessary to teach songs by rote. So far as 
effects on discipline are concerned rote singing is more 
important, although it is desirable to have pupils read 
music independently. Pupils will learn a song "by ear,". 



GENERAL EXERCISES 241 

as we say, with perfect readiness and with a high degree of 
correctness if it is so presented to them by the leader. 
That is, they will imitate it almost perfectly in all of its 
modulations and cadences. A little drill on articulation of 
the words, and manner of breathing, and certain tone qual- 
ities, wall help to make the results more satisfactory. It 
is well to show by specific example how to bring the tonies 
out clear and full and how to avoid guttural and nasal 
effects. 

Make a scrapbook of good, enlivening school songs gath- 
ered from every possible source. Introduce every selection 
by placing the words on the blackboard and havmg pupils 
copy them in their song-poem notebooks. Then have the 
piece played through carefully a number of times on an 
organ or piano, if possible, with the emphasis on the 
soprano. Or, if there be no instrument in the room, sing 
the selection through for the pupils and drill them on the 
tune, repeating a portion at a time. They will soon be 
singing it lustily. 

There are extant many excellent school tunes of which 
the words are not appropriate for school use. Revise the 
words or write new ones, or have the songs rewritten by 
some able person who has the real school spirit. The words 
of the song must convey in simple language an appropriate 
sentiment. 

Some illustrations of suitable song verses are given 
below. Observe the quickening sentiment of each and that 
it is appropriate to a particular season. 



342 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

EOBIN SONG* 

I 

I HEARD the robin singing 

His happy morning song; 
I saw his helpmate bringing 

Their breakfast to the young; 
And to me came a whisper 

In words that softly fanned the trees: 
If God so loves the robins 

Will he not care for thee? 

II 

I saw the roses growing 

In beauty day by day, 
No queen in all her glory - 

So lovely in array; :M 

And on their leaves were written M 

. In words of love and trust for me: 
If God so clothe the flowers 

"Will he not care for thee? 

AWAKE AND AWAY 



The morning light flingeth 
His bright wakening ray, 

And as the dawn bringeth 
The work of the day, 

The happy heart singeth 
Awake and away. 

Chorus 
Awake and away! 
Awake and away! 
The happy heart singeth 
Awake and away. 

* From The Morning Hour, published by Ginn & Co. 



GENEEAL EXERCISES 243 

II 

No life can be weary 

When work is delight; 
Though evening be dreary, 

Eest Cometh at night, 
And all shall be cheery 

If faithful and bright. 

MORNING SONG* 
I 
Teill, bird, upon the appletree; 

Hum, bee, over the rose; 
Laugh, brook, ripple in melody; 

Sweet little buds, unclose ! 
"Wave, grass, out in the valley wide; 

Leap high, grasshopper gay; 
Dear flowers, never one chalice hide, 

Summer will never stay. 

II 
Gold wheat, rustle and wave again; 

Cool wave, glitter and sigh; 
Soft breeze, merrily sing again; 

Under the deep blue sky. 
Play, lamb, out in the meadow now. 

Glad hearts, joyfully call; 
Bright sun, dimple the shadow now, 

Heaven is over all. 

UNTOLD* 
I 

Amber hued clouds with your edge tipped with glory, 

Sailing away, sailing away, 
Wait while I tell you a beautiful story. 

Tell it to-day, tell it to-day; 
But the cloud disappears in a chariot of gold. 
And my story is ever untold, untold. 

* From Happy Moments and Woodland Echoes, published by the Echo 
Music Company, Chicago. 



344 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

II 

Gay little brook dancing on like a fairy 

Down to the sea, down to the sea, 
Just for a moment I ask you to tarry, 

Listen to me, listen to me; 
But the brook ripples on and its pebbles grow old, 
And my story is ever untold, untold. 

Ill 
Golden clouds passing and silver brooks flowing 

Laugh in their glee, mockingly flee; 
Breezes from meadow and mountain side blowing. 

Blow now for me, blow now for me; 
And the years wrapt my heart in a shadowy fold, 
And my story will never be told, be told. 

The Devotional Service. In nearly all the states of 
the Union direct religious instruction in the form of sec- 
tarian doctrine is forbidden by law, as it should be, but 
there is usually no prohibition of the proper kind of simple 
religious service. The majority of teachers doubtless feel 
the need of some such service at the morning opening 
and realize its value, but the occasion often calls for an 
unusually fine sense of fitness. In many schools there are 
children of Jewish, gentile, Protestant, and Catholic sects, 
and the devotional exercises ought to be of so general a 
character as at least not to offend the ears of any of them, 
and, if possible, to be pleasing and helpful to all. It is much 
to be regretted that some teachers show so little con- 
sideration for the feelings and sentiments of children repre- 
senting smaller religious sects, for example, the Hebrew. 
They are often guilty of conducting the devotional 



4 



GENERAL EXEKCl8Ea 345 

exercises after the fashion of the revival meetings they 
have been attending at nights — frequently too much for 
the good of the school. The members of the school board 
who know their duty best will call such teachers to account. 

A simple passage of Scripture, or some other good liter- 
ary selection, is admissible, but it should be intended to 
inspire all and to offend none of the pupils. This may 
be followed by a simple prayer. The Lord's Prayer may 
sometimes be suitable, but the daily repetition of it soon 
becomes a mere formality and the effect ceases to be good. 
What is perhaps better is a little thanksgiving and a 
humble petition for the needs of the day. Avoid monotony 
in this service, for non-attention is sure to follow. What 
is most to be desired is to unify the conscious feeling and 
sentiment of all the pupils in relation to something that is 
high and inspiring and ennobling. A short, well-told story, 
a special piece of music, or a reference to some unusual 
little incident of the day, may serve best to secure atten- 
tion and to prepare the minds of the pupils for the fuller 
appreciation of the sacred readings about to be given. 

Current Events. An important feature of the general 
exercises of practically every school is the lesson to be 
drawn from current events. Two classes of lessons are pos- 
sible here* d) those that merely inform, and (2) those 
that awaken a moral sentiment. 

For lessons of the first class — such matters as wars actu- 
ally in progress ; terrible catastrophes like the eruption of 
Mount Pelee, or the Italian earthquake of 1908; such great 



246 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

undertakings as the construction of the Panama Canal or 
the drainage of the Zuyder Zee, are examples of suitable 
topics. But the event must be one actually current, or 
something that has just taken place. Suppose that a terrific 
earthquake has just occurred. Let the teacher give some 
of the details of its work of destruction and then present 
or have presented, not later than the day following, a 
short account of the notable earthquakes of history and a 
-brief statement of the best modern theory as to their cause. 
A series of very interesting lessons could be furnished 
by a discussion of the work of our national government 
in the behalf of various industries. For example, take the 
experiment stations for agriculture and animal-husbandry, 
the government forest preserves and irrigating plants, the 
signal service bureau in reference to the weather, the 
army and the navy, the government lighthouses and life- 
saving stations. 

Much of the data necessary for the intelligent discussion 
of the topics last named can be obtained from almost any 
good modern cyclopaedia. The progressive teacher will 
doubtless have access to such a work. Some of the dis- 
cussion can be given by certain of the more advanced 
pupils, under the teacher's direction. 

Moral instruction must not be given too directly. Expe- 
rience and observation have both shown that mere exhorta- 
tions to do good and admonitions to be good, may have 
little or no value in directing the character-building of the 
young. There will have to be an unusually strong attach- 



GENEBAL EXEECISES 247 

ment between you, the teacher, and WiUiam Henry, the 
boy, if he carries out effectively your scheme of conduct 
for him. The truth is, he must make out his own moral 
judgments by inference from what you and others say 
and do, and he must put these judgments into execution 
in a way that he feels is his own and not yours, if he is 
to develop into a strong moral character. Current topics 
will furnish much of the raw material to be selected and 
worked over by the teacher, and presented in such form 
as to enable the pupil to draw his own moral inference. 
This matter seems too important to be passed over with 
a brief outline here. It will be given extended discussion 
later. 

The Rhetoricals. One of the greatest informing and 
character-developing forces in the public schools, if rightly 
conducted, is the rhetorical exercise, for it not only admits 
of a very wide range of self-expression on the part of 
the pupil but brings him into many new and trying situa- 
tions that are rich in experience-giving. . The "Friday 
Afternoon Exercises," often so-called, can and must be 
made one of the most profitable parts of the course of 
study, and it is not disproportionate to give an entire after- 
noon each week to the matter, provided there be thorough 
earnestness and good organization in relation to the work. 

It is perfectly right for pupils to look upon this as a 
sort of holiday period giving freedom from what they 
consider as the grind and the restraints of every-day school 
work. The teacher can make it such for them by simply 



348 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

allowing two or three little liberties not permitted during 
the regular school exercises : ( i ) Permit pupils to sit 
where they please so long as their conduct is fairly decorous. 
(2) Grant them the liberty of whispering excepting while 
a part of the program is actually being given. 

The pupils will best effect their literary organization 
under the teacher's mere direction and advice. See that 
a full set of officers is elected and that each performs 
his duty in an appropriate manner. After the president 
has been elected the teacher will take a back seat and act 
as a sort of supernumerary member of the society. The 
pupils must feel that this is chiefly their own affair and 
that they are to enjoy all liberty consistent with good, 
effective work. The society must be given a good name 
and must have a stated purpose, both of which can be 
brought out by general discussion. Parliamentary rules 
must govern during the entire course of procedure. 

Unless the teacher exercise much care and forethought 
the program is very likely to develop into one of nonsense 
and trivialities. So, without seeming to assume direct 
control over the work of the society he can reserve certain 
privileges : ( i ) Let him hand to the committee a skeleton 
program, something of this nature: 

1 Select four debaters, two for the affirmative and two for the 

negative. 

2 Appoint four members to give recitations. 

3 Have two or three musical selections. 

4 Appoint one person to give a news report. 

5 Name a critic. 



GENERAL EXERCISES 249 

(2) The teacher will have it understood that he is to 
pass judgment upon every selection that is intended to 
be given. Pupils must consult him about the selections 
before they begin to prepare them. There is one rule at 
least that should always guide him in determining the 
worth of the proposed parts of the program, namely, Per- 
mit nothing to be given for the mere sake of amusement, 
but yet allow much that is amusing. This is a negative 
rule. A positive one is. See that the selections for reading 
and recitation and the musical numbers are all of the 
highest possible quality. It is necessary also for the teacher 
to take active part in choosing the subject for debate. 

It will be understood by the pupils that they are to be 
required to take part in these rhetoricals and to make 
passing grades just as in the ordinary branches, before they 
will be promoted. There will be much backwardness in 
the case of some, and it will be the duty of the teacher 
to hold up the weak hands. Some pupils who are placed 
on the program for debate, for example, will doubtless 
show very great disinclination toward such part. The 
teacher will, however, permit none to be excused from 
this requirement. The pupil may be requested to take 
his place before the school and state the question for 
debate, and if he "sticks" at this point the teacher may 
ask him an easy question of opinion about the subject. 
Ask him a few questions that require not merely "yes" 
or "no" for an answer but short statements. The ice is 
now broken and the pupil may be given a passing grade 



250 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

for having at least tried, while the attempt will be easier 
and more fruitful next time. 

The value of these rhetorical exercises, if rightly directed, 
cannot be too highly estimated. They afford just such 
experiences as will best lead to the discovery of talents 
not brought into use by the other work of the school. 
Each member will soon begin to show a preference for 
presenting a certain part of the program and something 
of a dislike for other parts. They perhaps may be per- 
mitted to indulge the preferences to some extent, but it is 
very well to give each member of the school the widest lit- 
erary experience possible under the circumstances. A cer- 
tain boy may be apt and willing at reciting, but very back- 
ward about debating. It is well, however, to require him 
to take his turn on the debate. There is no certainty that 
he will not develop strong talent in this direction after he 
has made a start. 

Of course, it is impossible to compel pupils to sing if 
they have no vocal ability, but a little tact on the teacher's 
part will be the means of discovering much latent vocal 
talent. The pupil's disinclination is often the result of mere 
timidity. There should be no higher standard of excellence 
for the vocal music — the solos, for example — than for the 
other parts of the program. The teacher who has had 
vocal training will himself know that there is often much 
progress to be realized as a result of a little earnest endeavor 
to bring out the young voices in solos, duets, and in larger 
groups of singers. 



GENERAL EXERCISES 251 

Bring the Friday afternoon exercises up to a high stand- 
ard of dignity and excellence by eliminating silliness and 
trivialities in the form of dialogues and Punch-and-Judy 
performances. Admit all visitors, but do not allow the 
pupils to think of this work as a mere matter of showing 
off. If the school is large enough, it may be well to divide 
it into two societies of equal strength and numbers and to 
encourage a little healthy rivalry by comparing the total 
points made by the two. As each performance is graded 
by the teacher, this will be an easy matter. 



PART III 

MOEAL INSTRUCTION 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE TEACHER'S PERSONALITY 

Indirect Instruction. The discussions to be offered in 
the third division of this book will be based on the assump- 
tion that moral instruction is not to be given in any such 
direct manner as instruction in geography, for example, 
but by indirection and suggestion. There is something 
in the nature of the child that makes him indisposed to 
profit by any one's moral preaching. Those who try to live 
upon predigested foods have proverbially weak stomachs, 
possibly as a result of too little invigorating exercise on 
the part of the organs of digestion. So with those whose 
moral conduct is worked out for them instead of by them. 
The strength-giving exercise that comes through much 
experience of trial and error in finding a higher way is a 
prerequisite of moral stamina. The strongest character 
probably is the one who during his years of growth has 
worked out his own salvation under the quiet, uninsistent 
direction of some one wiser and maturer than himself. 

Many adults and most children yield readily and will- 
ingly to the direction and influence of those who are their 
real superiors in mind and morals. But children are quick 
to detect shamming and other evidences of lack of intrinsic 
worth in their elders and teachers. So it is thought proper 

255 



256 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

to consider the personality of the teacher as one of- the 
first and greatest factors in moral instruction in the school. 
The chief items in this account of the teacher will now 
be enumerated. 

Fullness of Experience. One • of the most common 
handicaps to successful moral culture of public-school pupils 
is the youthfulness and meager experience of teachers. 
We teachers have not been in enough predicaments of our 
own to have ripened into firm, substantial characters. 
Many of us have not been seasoned sufficiently through 
hardship and deprivation and suffering to have acquired 
anything like the type of consciousness that the ideal teacher 
might reasonably covet. Alternating experiences of suc- 
cess and failure, of joy and sorrow, of hope and despair, 
of physical wholeness and suffering, of peace and antago- 
nism, of spiritual ecstasy and broken-heartedness, of faith 
and doubt, of a consciousness of the presence of the Imma- 
nent Spirit and a sense of the loss of our own soul — these 
are some of the part-processes of the rounding-out experi- 
ence which finally culminates in a kind of cosmic 
consciousness that finds kinship in every sentient creature. 

He who has climbed the mountain by means of his 
own efforts can appreciate the height much better than the 
one who has been borne up by some outside power. This 
self-attained ascent has been attended by much weariness, 
and longing, and slipping back, and despairing, and renew- 
ing of courage and efifort. The greatest life is full of 
bruises and losses and failures overcome. There is much 
danger that our goodness will be of a merely negative 



THE TEACHEK'S PERSONALITY 257 

character — that is, the mere result of having been borne 
along and upward easily and pleasantly rather than of 
having been tempted, and tried and finally triumphant. 

A teacher is none the worse, if during his years of devel- 
opment his character possessed many imperfections, pro- 
vided he has overcome them. Doubtless there are many 
types of bad conduct from the effects of which one can 
never fully recover, but the author's theory is that it is 
well for one to have had all the possible adverse experi- 
ences which one has been able to meet successfully. For 
one is then best prepared to interpret the consciousness of 
the delinquent characters he meets, both in school and out. 
Such a person will be free from that type of goodness 
which is mere innocence ; he will know better w^hat to 
look for in the character of the pupils that come to him 
and what they ma}' reasonably be expected to develop 
into under his guidance. 

A Broader Sympathy. This fullness of experience out- 
lined above for the ideal teacher will result in a wider 
range of sympathy on his part. To sympathize is to 
suffer with, and that means to be conscious of the mind 
and feelings of another from having been in his place. It 
means, moreover, full sj^mpathy not merely for the pupil 
who suffers wrong but for the one who does wrong as well. 
It is difficult to be fair to the evil-doer and so easy to 
condemn him point-blank. But is he not entitled to the 
same just and patient consideration as the well-doer? Con- 
demn the deed rather than the doer. Enlist the strictest 
disapproval of the act, in the minds of the other pupils, 



258 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

but encourage their heartiest sympathy and their best wishes 
for the reform of the actor, and his reform is practically 
assured. 

The author's first teacher was a splendid, noble-minded 
young man who passed to the Great Beyond more than 
a quarter of a century ago, but many of his moral lessons 
doubtless are still alive in the hearts of his pupils. On one 
occasion a twelve-year-old boy violated a rule of the school 
by throwing a stone, which seriously injured a little girl. 
To make matters worse, the lad stoutly denied his guilt. 
The teacher handled the case admirably. He tried to show 
the young members of the school the utter uselessness and 
the evil consequences of lying and lawbreaking, but he 
said not a word in personal denunciation of the guilty 
boy. Just as we thought the case was finished and that 
the boy had escaped, the teacher drew forth a good, stout 
switch and administered, seemingly without passion, a sound 
punishment. The other pupils regarded the whipping as 
just, although they were sorry for the boy and were glad 
to take him back into good standing as a member of their 
society. The effect of the punishment upon the particular 
boy and upon the other pupils was unquestionably good, 
but its goodness was derived chiefly from the teacher's 
sympathy for the wrong-doer. 

Tolerance. A further ingredient of the ideal teacher's 
personality is tolerance, and this follows in logical order 
after the other two just mentioned. Over-readiness to 
condemn the evil-doer without hearing or trial is a fault 
that is too common both in school and out and it is sug- 



THE TEACHER'S PERSON ALJTY 85J) 

gestive of immature judgment to say the least, while it 
is little better than condoning the evil. A happy mean is 
perhaps the safest. If there is any error of judgment, it 
had better be on the side of the accused. To be slow and 
deliberative in judgment, to extenuate about three fourths 
of the guilt on the basis of the culprit's own story, and then 
to punish him dispassionately but justly and thoroughly for 
the other one fourth, and afterward to treat him with all the 
respect and courtesy due the best pupil in the school, is 
perhaps the fairest rule of procedure in dealing with every 
misdemeanor. 

If the teacher could but realize that most pupils desire to 
do good rather than evil he would withhold his denunciation 
until a given case is analyzed. Every act, whether good or 
bad, has its history in the life of the actor. The boy who, 
for example, steals another pupil's book ought to become an 
object of careful study. So ought the one who steals in 
examination. A sixteen-year-old high-school girl was sus- 
pended for a term for cheating in examination. The prin- 
cipal, who was not himself a worthy example in every 
respect, thrust the girl out with a harsh expression of intol- 
erance. As a matter of fact, the girl's mother laughed at 
and indorsed her cheating. The young woman was sorely 
in need of affectionate counsel and advice and sympathy. 
Such a case as hers might seem at first almost hopeless, but 
even the mother might have been led to see the matter in 
a diflferent light had she been invited to a conference. 

The world is not all bad. Even the pessimists realize 
this fact. In truth, good conduct is such a commonplace 



260 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

thing that we hear Httle said about it, while evil is so com- 
paratively rare that we make it the subject of our news 
reports and the topic of our consideration. It is news. 
Now, while the teacher must be somewhat tolerant of evil, 
and fair and deliberative in his judgments of the evil-doer, 
he can easily be too tolerant in the presence of pupils, for 
they are likely to be led to the inference that evil-doing is a 
very common thing and to be regarded as a matter of 
course. This careless attitude toward evil will increase the 
possibility of their becoming evil-doers. So it is certainly 
important that pupils be reminded of the fact that, although 
we hear and read much about wrong and corruption, the 
great masses of the people are sound at heart and are going 
on daily in their quiet, unobserved practice of righteous 
deeds. 

Consistency and Frankness. It is not necessary that 
the teacher be an absolute model of perfection in manners 
and character. He certainly has a right to some shortcom- 
ings. But the pupils must know that he has high ideals, 
which he is striving consistently to realize. He must throw 
aside all useless pretensions and affectations and be frank 
enough to acknowledge before his pupils an occasional mis- 
take, accompanying his acknowledgment with an expressed 
determination to profit by means of the error. Such a dis- 
position is one of the valuable attributes of the personality 
that is strong and influential with pupils. 

Some years ago, after a certain young teacher had fin- 
ished one term's work with fair credit and was about to 
begin another one in the same school, she almost startled 



THE TEACHER'S PERSONALITY 261 

her pupils with a frank confession of the specific mistakes 
she had made during the previous year. In conchidinp^ her 
remarks, which had evidently been carefully prepared, she 
said in substance : "But we now look to the future for bet- 
ter things. You, too, have had your shortcomings, but 
doubtless you are resolving as I now am to profit by the 
errors of the past. I have not done one half so much for 
you as it was my plan to do or one half so much as you 
deserved. I must be more faithful, more patient, and more 
courageous. But I cannot carry out the highest ideals which 
I hold for you without your best wishes and your hearty 
cooperation. These I earnestly desire and expect to receive 
from you." 

It is needless to say that practically all of those seventh- 
grade pupils were pleased with the expression of sentiment 
from their teacher and that they were more than ever ready 
to make her aspirations a realized fact by means of their 
conduct in the future. 

High Ideals. The teacher of strong, effective person- 
ality can overlook and forgive the many little shortcom- 
ings manifested daily by the pupils, for he looks not upon 
the things that are seen but upon the things that are not 
seen ; for the things that are seen are temporal, but the 
things that are not seen are eternal. This text has wonder- 
ful potency for the teacher who applies it understandingly. 
Though the manners and expressions and dispositions of 
every boy and girl in the schoolroom are marked by crude- 
ness and worse imperfections, he persistently regards all 
these imperfections as the unrefined, undeveloped conduct 



263 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

of young creatures who are, in their essential nature, divine 
and immortal. This point of view concerning the child gives 
him a remarkable advantage over the teacher who looks 
merely upon the things that are seen and regards children 
as being nothing more or better than their childish 
manifestations. 

This attitude of mind gives the practical idealist hope 
and faith and courage to press on, even while others are 
in the midst of despair and disappointment. His faith is 
very soon rewarded, too, for even young pupils are quick 
to become aware of the teacher's unshaken faith in their 
intrinsic goodness and to respond accordingly. It is almost 
an impossibility for a boy to go on telling lies and living 
a lie in the presence of the teacher who by a kind of divine 
instinct can see and magnify the truth that is written in his 
soul. In him there is almost certain to be an awakening in 
behalf of truth-telling and truth-living. Who has ever 
known this law to fail? In fact, what mature person can 
very well persist in evil-doing in the presence of his best 
and truest friends, who constantly look for and confidently 
expect manifestations of truth and righteousness from him ? 
We not only find evidence of what we look for in a person 
but also help to make the thing looked for a reality in 
him. Sometime we teachers shall become aware of the true 
meaning of this great law. 

Self- Knowledge and Self-Mastery. The teacher of 
strong and influential character knows his own strength 
and his own weakness, and is constantly at work upon his 
self-mastery. None is so strong that he does not experience 



THE TEACHES 'S PERSONALITY 263 

temptations of some kind. The one who is the greatest 
source of inspiration and help to his pupils is such not 
because of freedom from temptation so much as because of 
his ability to resist and to overcome temptation. In order 
to be at his best one must be comparatively free from every 
kind of excess. The particular shortcoming may be merely 
procrastination, or a habit of mental laziness during work- 
ing-hours, or a disposition to overwork. Or, again, it may 
be a habit of running about at night attending various 
kinds of entertainments. All these minor excesses both 
positive and negative are usually known to the pupils and 
the latter are noticeably affected by them. 

The teacher who enters the schoolroom in the morning 
blear-eyed and sleepy from the dissipations of the night 
before is mistreating his pupils as well as himself, and the 
work of the day is likely to go on badly as a result. His 
good health and buoyant feelings are a part of the working 
capital of the school and the pupils have a legitimate right 
to their use every day. While partial nervous exhaustion 
resulting from late hours is occasionally unavoidable, it 
is astonishing how some teachers allow it to become chronic. 
Such teachers should be asked to resign. 

Along the pathway leading to self-mastery and self- 
knowledge lie the small duties of attention to one's personal 
diet and the matters of sleep and rest and outdoor recrea- 
tion, and to an orderly arrangement of the work outside 
of the school. A maximum of mental efficiency and an 
economy of time are ends to be sought. One can easily 
overeat to the point of sluggishness and oversleep to the 



364 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

point of drowsiness, so that, in the case of a teacher, his 
moral influence upon the school is impaired for the whole 
day. It is evident that the efficient moral teacher must 
be a clean, wide-awake, enthusiastic person, possessing a 
good, clear eye, and a bright, open countenance. One may 
be surprised at the extent to which the eye will clear up and 
the countenance brighten under the influence of regular, 
temperate habits of living, and clean, spiritual habits of 
thinking. Sensuality is certain to tell its own story in the 
facial expression. Young pupils cannot, of course, read 
its signs in the faces of their teachers, but they are 
nevertheless markedly affected by them. 

Twenty years ago there was known to the author a 
teacher who was naturally able and intelligent, but who sat 
up till one o'clock every morning playing cards in a down- 
town office and came moping into the schoolroom late and 
sleepy nearly every morning. His many moral maxims 
and bits of good advice were Avorse than wasted upon his 
pupils. He was really an object of ridicule. 

Firmness. A weak, vacillating character is in no sense 
a moral force in the community at large, and, if pos- 
sible, much less of one in the school. Pupils are quick 
to detect the lack of determinate purpose in a teacher and 
are ever ready to make a plaything of him. His weakness 
often grows out of a laudable ambition to please every- 
body connected with the school, but unless carefully guarded 
such ambition will lure one into all sorts of entanglements 
and result in his pleasing almost nobody. The so-called 
hedonistic law in ethics holds that pleasure is the chief goal 



THE TEACHER 'S PERSONALITY 265 

of life, but that those who start out in the direct pursuit 
of happiness soon find they are chasing a phantom. This 
same law holds good with reference to pleasing people. 
The one who makes this the end of his action is destined 
to disappointment. 

A certain well-educated young man, a high-school gradu- 
ate, on beginning his first term of teaching in a district 
school stated his purpose thus: "It is my intention to try 
to please all the patrons and pupils of this school and to 
avoid giving any offense." Before the close of the first 
three-months' term he was aked to resign and did so, the 
charge being that he had no control whatever of the school. 
There is only one safe rule to follow in the administration 
of school affairs, and that is, First determine carefully what 
you believe to be the right course of action and then follow 
it out with all the force and persistence you can muster. 
Then, trust the results to a higher power, for they will 
surely be on the side of righteousness. Moreover, the good 
people of the community will respect you and will rally 
round you and support you in every good undertaking. No 
evil force can successfully confront a sane, well-balanced, 
righteous person enlisted in behalf of a righteous cause. 

In the case of the teacher who is possessed of the kind 
of determination just described, it will be found that there 
is a charm about his manner and personality that easily 
elicits from pupils both respect and obedience. He is firm 
but gentle and affectionate in giving directions to the school, 
and those under his instruction delight to do his will. It 
soon becomes apparent that such a teacher is both pleasing 



266 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

to a majority of those interested in the school and a strong 
positive force for good, as well. 

Spiritual-Mindedness. The last and most admirable 
constituent of the interesting personality of the teacher 
is what we might call spiritual-mindedness. It grows out of 
the daily practice of nourishing the mind upon things that 
are high and uplifting and upon deeds that are noble and 
inspiring. Some have said that it is brought about by the 
habitual contemplation of the subtle meanings of song and 
poetry, while others have maintained that the best way to 
acquire it is to "go forth under the open sky, and list to 
Nature's teachings." It comes from the ever present con- 
sciousness that "there is a divinity that shapes our ends, 
rough-hew them how we will," say others. And still others 
would have you go alone to some quiet place and sit in the 
silence until you receive "an unmistakable message from a 
Still Small Voice which shall guide you into all truth." 
Browning expresses this superb kind of consciousness most 
suitably for some in his "Abt Vogler" — 

To whom shall I turn but to thee, the ineffable Name? 
Builder and Maker, thou, of houses not made with hands! 
What, have fear of change from thee who art ever the same? 
Doubt that thy power can fill the heart that thy power expands? 
There can never be one lost good ! What was, shall live as before. 

********** 
All we have willed or hoped or dreamed of good shall exist. 

The great philosopher Kant was ever inspired by the 
"starry heavens above and the moral law in man." 

In any case, it may be regarded as exceedingly helpful 



THE TEACHER'S PERSONALITY 267 

for the teacher if, in connection with his steady, sober- 
mindedness relating to the so-called solid facts of life, he 
possesses in his nature a generous element of the poetic, 
t-esthetic, and idealistic, to give his fancy wholesome enter- 
tainment between his more serious moods, and to engender 
in him what we might call healthy optimism. Every 
one must find his own peculiar way of attaining spiritual- 
mindedness. Suffice it to here say that in the opinion of 
the author this attribute is one of the necessary constituent 
parts of the teacher of greater personality. Then — 

Arouse the soul within 
And yield thou to her wooings, till she crown 
Thy brow with fortitude, thy breast with peace, 
And whisper secrets of divinity, 
That lie unuttered in the depths of thought. 



REFERENCES 



1 Henderson: Education and the Larger Life (Houghton, Mif- 

flin) ; Ch. Ill, "The Source of Power." 

2 Sabin: Common Sense Didactics (Rand, McNally) ; Ch. II, "The 

Teacher." 

II 

1 Black: Practice of Self-Culture (Macmillan) ; Ch. IX, "Culture 

of Spirit." 

2 Selleck : The Spiritual OutlooTc (Little, Brown) ; * * The Spiritual 

Element of Social Service," p. 263. 

Ill 

1 Fiske: The Idea of God (Houghton, MifiOin) ; Ch. XIV, "The 

Power that Makes for Eighteousness." Read the book 
through. 

2 Pratt: Psychology of Religious Belief (Macmillan); Ch. I, 

"Elements of the Psychical." 

3 Dresser: Voices of Hope (Geo. H. Ellis, Boston); Ch. IX, 

"The Spiritual Life." 



268 



CHAPTER XIX 

MENTAL ATTITUDE OF THE PUPIL 

Developing Sentiment. It is not sufficient that the child 
be led into the performance of certain acts that are regarded 
as moral. His silent, voluntary thoughts must be in ref- 
erence to moral acts to be performed in the future whenever 
the proper occasion arises. The utter uselessness of merely 
compelling a child to do right will be apparent here, so 
far as character-building is concerned. The teacher is 
therefore urged to use every reasonable means of securing 
a strong moral sentiment among his pupils. If the work 
of bringing about a proper mental attitude on their part 
be done thoroughly, their outward acts will tend to take care 
of themselves on all ordinary occasions. 

Let us suppose that a certain boy commits a theft and 
is detected in the act. Now it is earnestly suggested that 
the best way to deal with such a matter is publicly before 
the school. Condemn the sin heavily and the sinner but 
lightly, as suggested above. Give no details as to how 
the theft was committed, as other boys predisposed to this 
kind of evil might receive unfavorable suggestions there- 
from. Emphasize rather the pitiable plight of the offender 
and the uselessness of one's trying to gain a genuine advan- 

269 



270 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

tage by means of stealing. The culprit must be punished 
fully and justly in accordance with the nature of the 
wrong, but nothing need be said to make him an outcast 
from the society of the other pupils. The punishment is 
not so much for the sake of a warning to other possible 
offenders as it is for the sake of the one punished. He 
must, if possible, derive from his experience a new idea 
as to what is best for him to do in the future. 

The chief excuse for trying, and rendering a verdict 
upon, such a case before the whole school is that the pupils 
must be made more conscious of the evil consequences that 
necessarily follow such an act. Not only must the act 
be stripped of all its possible allurements for any other 
would-be offenders, but it also must appear as positively 
revolting to them. Then, and only then, will they make out 
in their own minds their future conduct in case of tempta- 
tion to do such a wrong. Many temptations, great and 
small, attend the pathway of every youthful traveler on 
life's highway. In all cases of temptation there are just 
two kinds of preparation that serve as effective means of 
resistance: (i) Habit, i. e., the habit of doing something 
that in its very nature contradicts and therefore counter- 
acts the force of the particular temptation, though it is 
scarcely practicable to develop in a growing child specific 
habit of conduct to counteract every arising temptation. 
(2) The child's predetermination. Here, then, is suggested 
the value of dealing publicly with every offense If the mat- 
ter be handled rightly, every pupil old enough to under- 
stand the nature of the deed and its consequences ivill 



MENTAL ATTITUDE OF THE PUPIL 271 

resolve within himself hozv he ivill avoid such an error 
whenever occasion arises. 

Now, as the author understands the matter, this is moral 
instruction of the most direct and valuable kind possible. 
Every act, good or bad, has its antecedent in some instinct 
or impulse, or in some acquired habit or predetermination. 
"As he thinketh so is he." There is grave danger that the 
young teacher who does not understand the real nature of 
the method of moral instruction outlined above, will obtain 
the result directly opposite to the one desired. The method 
pursued by any wrong-doer must be dwelt upon with as lit- 
tle detail as possible. Literary periodicals often become in 
some measure text-books of crime. Not long ago a certain 
well-known magazine published a detailed account of how 
the professional thief carries on his art of robbing flats in 
cities. This was a precious lesson for every young student in 
the school of thievery and thousands of his class doubtless 
profited by it. The teacher can easily commit the error 
of detailing the method of the wrong-doer rather than the 
unprofitable consequences of the act. 

Pointing Out Pitfalls. It certainly is not good peda- 
gogy to point out dangerous pitfalls to the young and 
show just how people get into them in order that the youth- 
ful wayfarers may not err therein. There is to the average 
youth something attractive and even fascinating about the 
forbidden way. He is ever desirous of giving it a trial and 
confident, too, that its entanglements cannot hold him. Just 
how much temptation to place before the child and from 
how much to keep him away is always a prolilem. His 



272 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

character unquestionably grows strong on temptations over- 
come, and weak on those yielded to. So the rule of prac- 
tice should evidently be, Give him all the temptation he can 
possibly and certainly overcome, but no more. Our modern 
society calls for a certain ruggedness of character, but this 
ruggedness can be brought about only through varying 
experiences. There occurs in the world daily much sin and 
wrong-doing. The growing child must not only witness a 
certain portion of this but in some measure become a par- 
ticipant in it. In a certain sense we learn to do good by 
doing evil. We must have walked more or less innocently 
into some pitfalls, but if we have come out of them whole 
and unspotted it is likely that some one who had oversight 
of us was at hand to give us just the assistance or direction 
we needed. 

The rule in this case is like unto the one suggested 
above, viz.. Allow some freedom of rein to the pupil who is 
anxious to acquire the experience on his own account, but 
follow him through it and see that his recovery is complete. 
Some parents, over-anxious for the well-being of their chil- 
dren, seek a means of giving them private instruction and 
of keeping them away from the contaminations of the public 
schools, but it is usually found that without the experience 
of roughing it among the pupils of the common school the 
child is inclined to grow up with certain eccentricities of 
character that render him unfit to enter freely into our 
common society. True, there are quarrels and fights and 
the use of coarse expressions and other kinds of objection- 
able conduct in the schools. But the child must be thrown 



MENTAL ATTITUDE OF THE PUPIL 273 

into the midst of these adverse conditions and his well-being 
safe-guarded until he has grown strong on their very 
account. Children who are rightly taught and inspired may 
in time take pride in the resistance they learn to offer in the 
presence of evil temptation. The best and firmest character 
waxes strong on temptations consciously overcome. That 
is, the possessor of it gradually learns how to bring about 
his own self-development. 

In connection with carrying out what was urged about 
emphasizing the evil consequences of wrong-doing it would 
be well, where practicable, for parents and teachers to 
take children of proper age to visit prisons, reform schools, 
and houses of correction, in order that these young persons 
may gain some idea of the punishment and suffering of 
those who have become depraved. It is not at all wrong 
to lead the child to feel pity for those who are bound. This 
can be done best by dwelling upon the fact that the youth- 
ful inmates are taken away from home and parents, if 
they chance to have any, and locked securely within the 
walls of the institution. 

Some Mental Effects. The object to be desired is that 
those under instruction resolve strongly to refrain from the 
evil of which the dire consequences are made apparent to 
them. But this is only the negative side of the thought 
process. There must be, also, a well-defined resolution in 
behalf of the good conduct that is to take the place of the 
bad. Now, for example, if the boy in the reform school be 
supposed to have got into trouble as a result of stealing 
and lying, the teacher may reasonably ask. Why did he 



274 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

steal and lie? Of course, his evil acts might have resulted 
from either inherited or acquired dispositions, but in many 
cases it will appear to the young on-looker that they were 
committed in order to gain some coveted prize or advantage. 
Now, the point which is so often overlooked or not thought 
of by the teacher is that the lesson is not complete till the 
child is led to determine in his mind just how the wrong- 
doer might secure the desired ends in some legitimate and 
praiseworthy manner. "Wise forethought is the father of 
every worthy deed," is a maxim written somewhere. So 
not only must the learner give mental assent to the infer- 
ence that some specific deed is bad, but he must also prede- 
termine as definitely as possible how he is to avoid the 
bad deed and to perform a good one that will secure the 
end desired. 

The directing and drawing power of the mind that is 
already made up in reference to any given type of action 
is such that, when the tempting situation arises, the resuh 
is more than likely to be on the side of the preconceptions. 

Holier than Thou. The fact that the teacher or parent 
is doing everything possible to enable the child to arise 
above every kind of wrong-doing does not require that the 
latter be trained to despise and hold in contempt the wrong- 
doer. A vain and supercilious. nature can easily be devel- 
oped in this connection. Our country is at least in theory 
a democracy, and if there are in fact some among us who 
have the proud, overbearing natures and the snobbishness of 
the Old World nobility, such may be a result of our false 
methods of training. One does not necessarily lose any of 



MENTAL ATTITUDE OF THE PUPIL 275 

his own self-respect and sense of decency in being courte- 
ous and respectful to every person he meets on terms of 
acquaintance, no matter what the station in life of that per- 
son may be. It is insisted again, therefore, that in depre- 
cating evil the teacher must place the emphasis upon the 
act rather than upon the person. 

A certain amount of love and sympathy, and even pity, 
for those children whose deeds are evil, or whose manners 
are crude, or who are in any sense down in the world, is 
not a hindrance but a help to good character-building. A 
well-educated father talked repeatedly to his children about 
those "filthy little miscreants" in the school, and w^arned 
them not to have; anything to do with the "little scamps." 
He was fond of making odious comparisons in favor of his 
own children, holding the others up to contempt. As a 
result the former grew to maturity possessed of an extrava- 
gant idea of their own superiority. They held themselves 
aloof from most other children and were nearly always 
thoroughly disliked thereby. Nothing short of severe trial 
and suffering will ever reduce such persons to that com- 
fortable, inspiring level of common humanity where they 
can realize that all the world is akin to them. 

The Spirit of Democracy. This world is a good place 
in which to live, partly because of the existence of human 
kindness and sympathy, and everything that helps to develop 
these divine attributes in the young is certainly a part of 
moral instruction. So, as a rule, it is better to create among 
pupils the feeling of their interdependence. If they can 
be made to realize that the best interests of each are in 



276 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

many senses the best interests of all, and that they are 
therefore workers together in a grand common cause, viz., 
that of developing a higher human character, the results 
will naturally be most satisfactory. There is altogether too 
strong a tendency in the schools to array one pupil against 
another. The spirit of rivalry may easily be carried too 
far and much envy and hatred result. It is almost impos- 
sible to carry on any kind of contest for prizes without 
stirring up much ill-feeling. The author does not believe 
contests to be worthy incentives to good work among pupils 
of the common schools. A child can be induced to try just 
about as hard to outdo himself as to outdo another. He 
and the other pupils can engage in common cause against 
the only real enemy they have, viz., their baser natures, 
and thus may be engendered a beautiful spirit of mutual 
helpfulness and sympathy in the place of envy and strife. 

Rewards and Prizes. The old-fashioned practice of 
giving prizes for superior excellence in some particular 
kind of school work is unquestionably bad in its moral 
effect. Those who receive the direct intellectual benefits 
are usually few of the many in the school, and the effect is 
often that of making these few vain and foolish, while 
others, who are defeated in the contest, are certain to have 
some of their noblest feelings crushed. Has the reader 
ever known of one of these prize contests that did not 
result in a net loss to the moral standing of the school? 
The principle involved is wrong, because thereby is set up 
an absolute rather than a relative standard of excellence. 

The only system of schoolroom rewards that can receive 



MENTAL ATTITUDE OF THE PUPIL 277 

full moral sanction is one that will allow ever\' pupil to 
win in accordance with his merit, and his merit is deter- 
mined in each case by the amount of earnest, conscientious 
effort put forth. The pupil who would win the prize 
according to the absolute standard of judging may exercise 
the least effort, and may for many other reasons rank low 
in the scale of intrinsic worthiness. On the other hand, 
there may be in the ranks a child of very ordinary ability 
who is showing most commendable effort and most satisfac- 
tory progress. The heart of the true teacher goes out to 
just this kind of slow but diligent and conscientious pupil, 
and to overlook him in the awarding of prizes, in favor of 
the other one naturally so bright, is an injustice too gross 
to be tolerated. A kindly word of sympathy and approba- 
tion quietly spoken in the ear of the earnest little worker. 
so thanTis good heart will beat just a bit warmer and 
stronger, is the best reward that can possibly be offered, and 
when we think how inexpensive such a reward is, and how 
it tends to make the teacher's own heart .grow big with 
affection and kindliness, we wonder why it is not offered 
more frequently. Perhaps teachers are too busy hearing 
recitations. 

Private Talks. In an effort to develop the best atti- 
tude toward the work of the whole school in the minds of 
the pupils one is often called upon by duty to administer a 
private rebuke, but not a few teachers lack the moral 
courage necessary to administer it. If it be the first duty 
of the teacher to discern that which is good and promising 
among the latent possibilities of the pupil, and to bring that 



378 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

up to the point of growth and realization, it is certainly a 
further duty for him to observe that in his young protege 
which is bad and objectionable and to try to suppress it. 
One of the most effective means of suppressing an evil 
tendency in a pupil is to call him into private council and to 
tell him frankly but kindly of the particular fault. 

There is nearly always a comforting belief in the mind 
of the wayward pupil that his faults are not fully known to 
the teacher, and he proceeds on his way on this assump- 
tion. To disabuse his mind of this error is the teacher's 
first corrective measure. Besides being in the nature of 
a revelation to the ofifender, such correction of his wrong 
idea is often a means of inducing him then and there to 
array all the best there is in him against the very wrong 
he has been committing. There is usually at first a sharp 
sting for both parties in the case, but shortly afterward 
both may be seen pulling together in the interest of reform. 
How much better it is affectionately to join hands with 
the unruly child in his endeavor to reform his character 
than to administer an open rebuke and to lose his good 
will to the extent that he may later increase his practice 
of wrong-doing, just for spite ! 

When but a child the author was under the instruction of 
a teacher who made a practice of calling the unruly boys 
"fools" and "stottenbottles-" and other coarse names. The 
boys were constantly plotting to retaliate and during the 
intermissions there was devised many an evil plan for break- 
ing the teacher's rules. As a result of this teacher's ineffect- 
ive method of dealing with petty offenses many boys who 



MENTAL ATTITUDE OF THE PUPIL 279 

Otherwise never would have thought of such things were 
drawn into the controversy just to down him. 

Pupils like to know that they are observed and thought 
of by the teacher who is perfectly fair with them, and 
even the offending boy is very much inclined to admit the 
truth about his own conduct in a private conversation with 
such a fair-minded person. There is more honor among 
the so-called "tough" boys of the school than they are 
generally given credit for. Many of these boys are in 
no sense sneaks; on the contrary they are often so open 
and courageous in their oft'ending conduct that they may 
at times be converted into powerful exponents for the right. 

A certain high-school principal learned that one of his 
brightest fifteen-year-old youths was smoking a pipe. Upon 
being confronted privately concerning the matter the lat- 
ter confessed that he had begun the practice months pre- . 
viously "just for fun." "But," said the principal. "I have 
been referring to you as a worthy example of the ideal 
student. This thing is very disappointing to me. There 
is entirely too much good in you to admit of its being 
obscured in this way. Wait until you are a mature man 
and then smoke if you must, but do not now, for the sake 
of your honorable standing in the school. Remember, I 
am your friend and I expect to stay by you till the last, 
but it is harder for me to do so under such circumstances." 
"I did not know you were taking any such interest in me," 
said the boy in reply. "Here is my hand. I'll quit!" 

This splendid boy remained true to his pledge, but it 
would have been a verv easv matter to drive him in the 



380 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

other direction by a little public denunciation. If the teacher 
can work himself into a genuine feeling of friendship for 
the boy or girl who is low in the scale of moral conduct, 
and will in addition to this privately pledge everlasting 
fidelity to his charge, the battle is already half won. 

The Awakening Consciousness. Gradually the true, 
earnest teacher finds his way into the life of every class 
of pupil that comes into his charge, and he finds therein 
many undeveloped resources and latent energies that give 
unfailing promise of a new creature. The work of discov- 
ering the hidden beauties of the soul in young moral delin- 
quents becomes in time, to him who has the proper insight, 
both fascinating and inspiring. 

The bad boy of the school ; the wicked little miscreant, 
bowed down with the weight of long-continued public con- 
demnation and self-denunciation, and possessing no clear 
conception or image in his mind of what good conduct really 
is ; this boy who is in every sense ignorant and lacking 
in experience of the good — is it fair for you, fellow teacher, 
to join the ranks of his denunciators and thereby assist in 
keeping him down? May not this poor, benighted youth 
be capable of at least vague heart-yearnings and longings 
after that which is noble and high? And are you not 
really to become a beacon of light unto this little stranded 
wayfarer until he shall be landed safely upon the shore of 
higher inspiration and truth? I appeal to you in the name 
of the very worst and wickedest boy in your particular 
school. Make him your confidant and companion, and thus 
win him everlastingly for a better and a higher type of life. 



REFERENCES 



1 Adler: Moral Instruction of Children (Appleton) ; Ch. II, "The 

Efficient Motives of Good Conduct." The teacher will find 
this whole book most helpful and interesting. 

2 White: School Management (American Book Co.); "Materials 

for Moral Lessons," p. 239 ff. 

II 

1 Du-Bofs: The Point of Contact in Teaching (Dodd, Mead); 
"The Plane of Experience." 

in 

1 EiCHM: Educational Beview, May, '06; "Incorrigible Boys." 

2 Wagner: The Simple Life (McClure, Phillips) ; Ch. XIII, "Edu- 

cation for Simplicity." 



281 



CHAPTER XX 

THE RULES OF THE SCHOOL 

Policy of School Government. In mapping out a policy 
of government for the school, it is well for the teacher 
to have two or three matters prominently in mind : ( i ) 
What ends are to be sought? (2) What rules of conduct 
are necessary to reach these ends? (3) How can these 
rules be made operative with the least friction? 

The Ends to Be Sought. It might be fair to say 
that the ultimate aim of government in the school is the 
perfection of human character. But this statement is too 
abstract to have any considerable value for the ordinary 
teacher. Let us consider, then, some of the less remote 
but more concrete ends to be attained through discipline. 
First of all, it is to be desired that the school government 
be of such character as to assist to the fullest possible extent 
the work of learning. We may say that there must be com- 
parative quiet during the daily sessions, and also the least 
possible strain and excitement for pupil and teacher during 
working-hours, and little friction between the two. Such 
conditions would be at least rather ideal for the intellectual 
work. But that these ideal conditions are to be broken into 
is soon to become apparent, for the second immediate aim 
of discipline is to assist the child by means of his own 

282 



THE RULES OF THE SCHOOL 283 

experience and observation — which also is experience — to 
find his true place in the society of the school and in the 
larger society outside of and beyond the school. Man is 
a social creature, but he becomes truly social only through 
long experience of contact with others. 

Now, if the foregoing statement concerning learning 
from experience be acceptable, it becomes apparent at once 
that the most helpful and desirable kind of school govern- 
ment is one in which the quiet order of things is broken into 
by an occasional conflict, or strain in the relations of its 
members. 

The healthiest school atmosphere is one which is now and 
then disturbed by a quarrel, or a fist fight, or a flagrant vio- 
lation~~T3f^the rules, or all of these. There must be some 
such stirring event occasionally as an object-lesson for 
teacher and pupils. The former grows strong in school 
management through dealing judiciously with such matters 
and the latter acquire through their experiences a better 
means of adjustment to the actual conditions of society. 
So, be it held that, if any one of these matters comes to 
issue and is dealt with in a successful manner, the entire 
school is benefited by the experience — provided it does 
not occur too often. 

Few Rules. Set rules, especially if enacted at the 
beginning of the school term, are likely to be a kind of 
afifront to some ill-disposed pupils. It may be most 
advisable, therefore, to announce a rule only when the 
occasion actually necessitates it. It has been found most 
profitable to have the fewest rules possible and to enforce 



284 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

these few strictly, publicly repealing every one for which 
there is no longer a necessity. This statement embodies 
one of the secrets of easy school government. Anarchists 
are made rather than born, and not a few of them are made 
in the loosely governed public schools. The boy who is 
permitted to ignore the rules of the school because no 
particular harm comes from the violation is on the way 
to lawbreaking on a higher scale, and is therefore being 
mistreated by the teacher. 

A concrete illustration will be of assistance here. The 
boys' and the girls' playgrounds are separated by a line 
fence. It has been found necessary to announce that no 
one shall throw missiles across from one side to the other. 
At the next intermission two boys throw stones over 
among the girls, but little is said about the incident because 
no one is injured. Other violations are ignored in about 
the same way till one boy finally throws and hits a little 
girl, inflicting a wound. This act angers the teacher and 
the unfortunate lad is soundly trounced, hecmise he acci- 
dentally hit the girl. The matter was treated unfairly by 
the teacher. The very first offenders against the rule ought 
to have been punished so that another violation probably 
would not have occurred. Teachers are slow to learn that 
strictness in enforcement of rules means that violations 
of rules will constantly become fewer, and the necessity of 
punishment less frequent.. It is very unfortunate that some 
teachers can punish violations of the rules only when some- 
thing resulting from the offense arouses their anger. 
Nature's laws are inexorable and we soon learn, therefore. 



THE EULES OF THE SCHOOL ' 285 

to fall into harmony with them. If the exactitude of nature 
were more closely observed in the enforcement of the laws 
of home and school and state there would be a tremendous 
falling off in criminal conduct in all these institutions. 

Certain Rules Inadvisable. While it is inexcusable to 
permit offenses to go unpunished, it involves the teacher in 
serious difficulties to have a rule that in the very nature 
of the case cannot be enforced. The old, oft-violated rule 
against whispering has perhaps been the means of devel- 
oping among pupils more embryonic liars than any other 
one ever enacted in the school, and this on account of the 
difficulty of detecting its violations. "Whoever whispers 
during the recitation hours will have to stay in after school. 
— John, were you whispering?" ''Nope!" "What were 
you doing?" "Studyin'." And then a giggle is heard. 
It would be preferable to offer a general objection to unnec- 
essary noise of any kind that will disturb the quiet of the 
school and to proceed against any such disturbance at 
the moment of its occurrence. Matters will then gradually 
become more satisfactory. 

So, before making a rule it is well to consider its advis- 
ability. Can it be strictly enforced ? Is it conducive to lying 
and deception? Will it require much espionage on the part 
of the teacher? There are certain violations of the well- 
known rules of good conduct that may be dealt with sum- 
marily by the teacher without his having made announce- 
ment concerning them in the school. These rules wnll 
gradually formulate themselves in the minds of the pupils 
if the teacher does his part thoroughly. This discussion 



286 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

naturally leads up to an important phase of school 
management and moral instruction. 

The Sentiment of the School. It has been held by 
many students of human affairs that no law can be success- 
fully enforced unless it be backed up by public sentiment. 
This principle applies in a certain sense to the school, but it 
does not mean that the teacher is first to learn what the 
sentiment of the school is and then legislate accordingly. 
It is his business to develop and educate sentiment in behalf 
of his just rules. This he does by explaining before the 
school the necessity and the meaning of every new require- 
ment by appealing to the better natures of the pupils for a 
sanction of it. Once the entire student-body becomes 
arrayed against the head of the school, he has a long, serious 
fight before him. Here is a point at which tact is a most 
valuable asset. The majority of pupils must be called upon 
and depended on to cooperate in putting down evil among 
the minority, for the real offenders are nearly always few. 

A coarse-natured, misguided boy of fifteen, an unwilling 
attendant at school, breaks into the building at dusk and 
does considerable damage to the furniture and books. The 
following morning, after the pupils are assembled, all eyes 
are fixed inquiringly upon the teacher. What is he going 
to do about it? The first thing he might well do after 
speaking deploringly of the deed is to assure his pupils 
that he feels sure such benighted miscreants as its per- 
petrator are exceedingly rare in the school, and that he does 
not for a moment presume that any considerable number 
of his hearers are at all willing to sanction any such deed. 



THE KULES OF THE SCHOOL 287 

Now, this is the best method of organizing effective opposi- 
tion to all serious offenses against the school. The better 
natures of the pupils must be stimulated till they are ready 
to cry out against evil-doing. Then, and only then, is the 
moral lesson in reference to this act imparted. The pupils 
not only are wrought up in opposition to the offense, but 
are making silent resolutions as to their own better conduct 
for the future in reference to such matters. They are 
arraying themselves without and within on the side of the 
good. 

The Reformation. Just as soon as the culprit observes 
that the sentiment of the school has set in strong against 
him, he is certain to do something by way of restitution 
or reform. He simply cannot stand out long alone against 
his mates. Thus, there may be won a great victory over 
not merely one wrong but many of similar character. It 
is altogether right to talk optimistically to the pupils about 
themselves as above. It is unquestionably true that the 
better judgments of nearly all pupils prompt them to 
deplore and oppose all such offenses as that described. But 
it is the special function of the teacher, just here, to find 
and bring to fuller consciousness these better prouiptings, 
which lie dormant in the pupils. Their better natures, once 
discovered and made active, soon tend to grow strong and 
self-assertive. You need not be surprised to see the child 
thus trained taking in the future a firm stand on the side of 
right. 

Punishment. Is punishment for wrong-doing reason- 
able and justifiable? The author has no hesitancy in 



388 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

answering this question affirmatively.' The idea of com- 
pensation prevails everywhere. With advancing years we 
gradually become convinced that one cannot get something 
for nothing, and that one who expects to do so is very likely 
to get nothing for something. While it is, perhaps, seldom 
advisable to lead a child to commit some foolish act in order 
that he may learn from its evil consequences, it is well for 
him to discover early through chance occurrence that evil 
acts must cause some kind of suffering somewhere, to 
some one. The fact that Nature is often slow to exact full 
payment for violation of her laws is no ground for the 
belief that she will not even matters up in due time. 

So, the general rule that one should suffer the evil conse- 
quences of his folly and wrong-doing seems to be an inex- 
orable law of nature and it is the rule that, under certain 
restrictions, must be operative in the punishment of chil- 
dren. Pain and suffering are great schoolmasters, but if 
a child foolishly or thoughtlessly, or even intentionally, 
attempts to do something that will result in permanent 
bodily injury to himself or others, the act must be averted 
if possible. "Let him learn. He will know better next 
time," is an assertion frequently heard when a child is 
seen walking into dangerous places, but if he "is pointing 
a loaded gun at himself, or trying to get in the way of a 
passing car, there may not be any next time. The rule, 
then, might be modified thus : Let the child suffer the evil 
consequences of his intentional wrong-doing, or even when 
it be a matter of neglect or carelessness, provided, however, 
that you can be assured of his complete physical recovery 



THE EULES OF THE SCHOOL 889 

from the effects of the act, and provided, also, that there 
may result no permanent injury to his moral character. 

A Double Wrong. Two wrongs are apparently com- 
mitted when a teacher or parent in any way unnecessarily 
shields a child from the evil consequences of his act or 
neglects to punish him justly and summarily for it. Every 
time a child of understanding age is permitted knowingly, 
on his part, to violate a moral rule of conduct with 
impunity, he is being mistreated. He is thus being led 
into the belief that obedience to law is not necessary, and he 
is also beginning a habit that will sometime be very difficult 
to overcome, and that will lead him into very serious 
trouble. So, the teacher who permits evil to go unpunished 
is not only the first offender but the chief offender. He 
is himself immoral. 

Manner of Punishment. The manner in which the 
pupil's evil act is to be returned upon his own head is to 
be decided in accordance with the merits of each particular 
case. Mature judgment and common sense are two of the 
best guiding principles. The teacher who depends upon 
some old notebook rule or formula for dealing with unruly 
pupils is usually the one who secures the poorest results. 
He is too mechanical. But let him throw aside the fixed 
formula and enter carefully into the merits of each case, 
and he will soon acquire -wisdom in dealing with such 
matters. A firm, fair decision and a quick execution are 
best suited to produce the desired results and to reduce 
offenses to the minimum. One thing that indicates mature 
judgment and insight in the case of a teacher is his ability 



290 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

to observe that every pupil under his charge is a particular 
individual with his own peculiar combination of traits and 
tendencies. There is as great a variety of characters as 
there is of faces. The immature teacher is disposed to 
regard his pupils as having been fashioned by nature after 
one or two patterns and as plastic creatures to be molded 
through instruction into one and the same character 

Then, what is to be done if a boy tells a deliberate false- 
hood? That depends on the boy. How should one deal 
with a girl who persists in writing silly notes in school? 
It depends on the girl. These two questions remind one 
of this algebraic problem : What is the age of a man who 
was born x years ago? In all these cases the data are too 
meager. The only responsible answer is : First know your 
pupil and then proceed directly and conscientiously to do 
your duty. 

Corporal Punishment. There are as many kinds of 
punishment, therefore, as there are offenders to be pun- 
ished. But there is one method about which something 
more needs to be written, viz., corporal punishment. Many 
are opposed to this method and never use it, while not a 
few municipalities have outlawed it altogether. Accord- 
ing to recent inquiry, thirteen of the thirty-nine largest 
cities in the United States forbid. corporal ptmishment, while 
twenty-six of them permit it in restricted form. In one 
of the great cities of the country the board of education 
passed an ordinance against "whipping or striking the pupil 
in any manner whatever." For a time after that some of 
the teachers resorted to pinching and shaking offending 



THE RULES OF THE SCHOOL 291 

pupils, until a second ordinance forbade "taking hold of or 
touching the person of the child in any manner for purposes 
of punishment." So, now the poor teacher has to be 
satisfied with using his tongue or gnashing his teeth, or 
both. 

The author is a hearty believer in the old-fashioned Bib- 
lical maxim "spare the rod and spoil the child." There are 
times when unruly boys need to be soundly "licked," and 
when nothing else is quite so wholesome and efifective. 
This method of punishment above all others must be applied 
carefully and judiciously. The greatest obstacle to success- 
ful corporal punishment is anger or the spirit of revenge 
in the teacher or the parent. So many are unable to 
inflict such punishment unless spurred on by the heat of 
passion, under which condition the good effect is worse 
than lost. In the ideal case, however, neither teacher nor 
pupil is angry. The punishment is a just judgment justl} 
executed. In the other case it is more frequently a mean 
spirit of revenge, baseh^ satisfied and more- basely resented. 
There is often a running fight going on between teacher 
and pupils in an effort to "get even." The child that is 
punished justly and fairly and without anger may resist 
or try to avoid the punishment, but he will resent it little 
if any, and he is pretty certain to esteem his punisher more 
highly afterward, whether it be teacher or parent. 

True Affection. If I understand and love my child, I 
may nevertheless be justified in administering to him affec- 
tionately a good, smart spanking. Let us suppose that I 
permit him to go across the way to play with other chil- 



393 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

dren, with the express instruction that he is to return imme- 
diately at first call, and that he fails entirely to obey the 
request. Now, I go and bring him and lead him gently 
behind the woodshed, and after reviewing the case fully I 
warm him up in a very effective manner with a shingle. 
Then, in a kind, affectionate tone of voice, I ask him if he 
would like to return and play with the other children. 
"Yes, papa," he says. "Well, run on, then, and I will call 
you shortly." In a half-hour I call him again and the 
little fellow comes running promptly and I take unusual 
care to speak approvingly of him and otherwise to show 
my fondness for him. He has now received a splendid 
lesson in obedience and the tie of affection between us two 
is more than ever strengthened. He is almost certain to 
come to me within a few hours after his spanking and 
say in substance, "Papa, you are a fellow I like." A few 
more lessons of this kind and he becomes confirm.ed and 
habituated in his obedience and he and I shall probably ever 
afterward be confidential friends and companions in both 
work and play. There is only one rule of procedure in 
cases where corporal punishment is necessary : Do not 
in any case let it go undone, but be firm and fair and 
affectionate in administering it. 

Tonic Effect. A little of the kind of procedure just 
outlined if applied to the school will have a wholesome, 
tonic effect. The boy who is the special sufferer will feel 
afterward a kind of soothing glow of comfort and satis- 
faction, and the other pupils will make some very wise 
decisions regarding their own future conduct. The teacher 



THE RULES OF THE SCHOOL 293 

will find in himself an increased fondness for his work and a 
growing affection for his pupils. This splendid feeling 
will be mutual, for pupils are inclined to think more highly 
of the teacher because of the fact that he exercises a firm, 
aft'ectionate authority over them. Good fellowship and good 
studentship may now be expected to grow up together, all 
perhaps as a result of a teacher's having dealt wisely and 
courageously with one naughty boy, who actually needed a 
spanking. As to the boy, he is more likely to go on and 
grow in grace and good moral conduct and every other 
good thing. And, best of all, he will in the future rever- 
ence the old-tirrfe teacher and speak approvingly of the day 
when the latter "brought him to time and gave him a boost 
upward." 

Wherefore, let the position herein set forth on the subject 
of corporal punishment be clearly understood. It is this : 
Most children may be managed by gentler means and their 
best natures brought into active expression, but there are 
always a few, especially boys, in nearly every school who as 
a last resort may be materially and permanently benefited 
by being subjected to the stinging eft'ects of a good shingle 
or a keen switch. But the affair must be conducted in so 
cordial a manner that the participants will come out of it 
with both mental and physical exhilaration. Corporal 
punishment will then become a means unto salvation. 



REFERENCES 



1 A. E. Shepard, See'y N. E. A. (Winona, Minn.) : Beport of the 

Committee on Rural Schools. 

2 Hughes: How to Keep Order (A. Flanagan); chapter on 

"Instruction and Discipline." Pamphlet, 10 cents. 

3 Seeley: School Management (A. Flanagan); chapter on "Order 

in the School Eoom. ' ' 

II 

1 GiDiNGHAGEN: Outlines of School Management (Crane & Co.). 
Pamphlet. 

Ill 

1 Salmon : The Art of Teaching (Longmans, Green) ; "Order, 

Attention, Discipline." 

2 Dresser : Education and the Philosophic Ideal (Putnam's); Ch. 

V, "The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood." 

3 Briggs: School, College, and Character (Houghton, Mifflin) ; Ch. 

V, "Discipline in the School." 



294 



CHAPTER XXT 

DEMOCRACY IN THE SCHOOL 

Conflicting Tendencies. One of the most substantial 
ingredients of our public and social life to-day is the spirit 
of democracy. Certain tendencies are constantly at work to 
reconstruct our society in accordance with aristocratic 
or caste distinctions, but these tendencies are counteracted 
by certain stronger and more permanent forces in current 
events. A number of the latter might be discussed here, 
but the purpose of this text will properly admit of the 
consideration of only one, namely, the public school. The 
public school and the newspaper are to-day doubtless our 
greatest socializing influences and it is through them that 
the spirit of democracy is kept alive. The position of the 
former is peculiar in that its influence over' the individual 
is exerted while the latter is young and impressionable, and 
in that when it is through with him he has already become 
pretty well predisposed toward certain types of conduct. 
But first of all, let us notice some of the conditions in school 
and out that would naturally antagonize this democratic 
spirit. 

The Beginnings of Aristocracy. The seeds of caste 
distinction are often sowm in the home by the manner of 
rearing children, especially in homes where there are few 

295 



296 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

children and ample time and means of looking after them. 
At any rate, certain boys and girls will come to the school- 
room imbued with the idea that they are better than all or 
nearly all the others and that they are entitled to special 
favors. They will be possessed of a certain amount of 
•haughtiness or superciliousness that cannot be mistaken 
by the teacher. One such child, a little girl, was heard to 
say, "Mamma told me not to play with those other chil- 
dren," and she stayed apart with another little girl whom 
the mother had doubtless singled out as the one suit- 
able playmate for her child. A certain amount of self-pride 
is of course commendable, but it must not go to such 
extremes of exclusiveness. There is no reason why any 
child with all the good breeding and good manners of a 
refined home cannot mingle on equal terms with the com- 
mon crowd at school for a few minutes daily without being 
contaminated. Moreover, it is contended that such a child 
if rightly managed will both give and receive much good in 
mingling with the others. 

The first fault is committed when the parent tells the 
child in so many words, or in any other way leads him to 
believe, that he is better than all the others and that they 
are not fit to associate with him. He is by this teaching 
to some extent unfitted for the mature society into which 
he must in time enter, as will be clearly implied later. 

Wrong Incentive. The young pupil takes his cue for 
exclusiveness and superciliousness not merely from state- 
ments and insinuations of his parents ; there is not a little 
of the sentiment of caste and preferment in society around 



DEMOCRACY IN THE SCHOOL 297 

him. Besides the self-isolated pupil as heretofore described, 
there are often sets and cliques who are self-opinioned and 
exclusive and who are accustomed to offend the feelings 
of the more ordinary pupil in many little ways. The com- 
mon rules of courtesy and good manners are violated by 
these young scions of a pseudo nobility as they assume 
haughty airs and refuse to form common friendships. The 
wide-awake teacher will certainly take quiet cognizance of 
this strained and undesirable relation among young pupils 
and endeavor to bring about some kind of relief. 

Further up in the grades will be found the juvenile 
members of the fraternities and sororities with their badges 
and tinsel and snobbishness. They are banded together for 
"purposes of intellectual and social betterment," as they 
say, and they even aim to help the weaker members of their 
group in their school work. Other worthy motives are 
named by them as justifying their existence. But school 
authorities are practically agreed that these organizations, 
which include students of the high school or lower, are 
positively detrimental to the best interests of education. 
Now, Boston baked beans constitute an excellent article 
of diet for mature and physically strong persons, but they 
are entirely too rich for infants and invalids. So with 
fraternal organizations. They doubtless subserve many 
highly beneficial purposes among mature men and women, 
but they have no proper place among adolescents and 
youths, where they often serve as a hotbed for all sorts 
of schenjes and intrigues against the school government, 
and as a shield for many forms of dissipation and sensuous- 



298 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

ness. It is a fortunate circumstance that many legislatures 
and boards of education are outlawing these youthful 
bands. 

Over and above these childish fraternities just described, 
and furnishing them their sanction and encouragement, are 
the so-called "smart set" of social circles who assume an 
exclusive superiority on account of high breeding and 
correctness of clothes. Among them there is probably an 
unfounded pretense of wealth and much vain shamming of 
aristocracy. Such organizations may have justification for 
their existence, but they are not directly conducive to good 
morals and good comradeship and altruistic feeling among 
either the old or the young. If a member of this self-styled 
blue-blooded group — say a woman — undertakes to give her 
child any instructions touching his relations with ordinary 
children, it will be to remind him of his superiority to the 
masses. Perhaps the worst objection to the existence of 
these exclusive sets is that the very nature of their conduct 
in society is such as to throw many minor indignities into 
the faces of those whom they consider beneath their caste, 
as well as to brand with a conscious stigma many who 
strive in vain to acquire their rank. All this is conducive 
to not a little envy and jealousy and is a direct hindrance 
to the moral instruction of the schools. 

A third incentive to immorality among young persons 
and a promoter of the aristocratic rather than the demo- 
cratic spirit is the so-called "graft" in politics together 
with its legitimate offspring, the get-rich-quick method of 
amassing fortunes. Unfortunately, the very best method 



DEMOCRACY IN THE SCHOOL 399 

of combating these practices — namely, publicity of their 
methods of doing business, and a resultant strong public 
disapproval — is such as often to throw enticements in the 
way of the young. For, the latter are quicker to understand 
the letter than the spirit of thrifty corruption and apt 
to receive evil suggestions therefrom. Not infrequently 
those whose wealth has been obtained by fraud and political 
intrigue are living under jthe guise of eminent respectability 
and high-caste distinction, both of which they have bought 
indirectly with their money. 

These and the others named above are some of the most 
prominent and persistent obstacles to effective moral train- 
ing in the schools, and it is these conditions and their rep- 
resentatives that the teacher must tactfully but courageously 
combat both in school and out. Specific reasons for taking 
a stand against .these undemocratic organizations will 
become more apparent as the discussion proceeds. 

Our History Democratic. The makers of this nation 
were inspired by universal principles of right and justice. 
A representative government in which there should be 
accorded equal rights to all and special privileges to none 
was their ideal. Favoritism in government, founded on the 
superficial character of mere wealth and breeding, was espe- 
cially repugnant to them. The Revolutionary Fathers were 
as a rule plain-living, plain-speaking, God-fearing men. 
After these there arose many able statesmen whose devo- 
tion to the interests of the common people was made more 
effective by means of their matchless eloquence. Then came 
great ministers of the gospel of religion and of the new 



300 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

light of freedom, and still later, influential newspaper and 
magazine editors. Lastly, there appeared in their turn 
great educators like Horace Mann Mary Lyon, William 
T. Harris, and Charles W. Eliot. 

In all these centuries of the country's growth there arose 
many burning issues, some of which created serious divi- 
sions among the people. Notwithstanding the schisms in 
Church and State, however, there was always practical 
unanimity upon the theory that there was to be a govern- 
ment of the people, for the people and by the people. Dis- 
cussions arose only over the special applications of the 
theory. 

Now, the only motive in enumerating these well-known 
matters of history is to remind the reader that the spirit 
of democracy has always been predominant in the hearts 
of the makers of the nation. Also, it is desired to urge that 
a sound morality cannot be inculcated in our schools on 
any other than democratic principles. Just as soon as the 
teacher begins to bolster up and support class distinc- 
tions he is thereby opening up a vast amount of trouble 
for himself and for other members of the school, to say 
nothing of the injustice and the immoral aspect of his 
partiality. 

The Real Nobility. Only one kind of nobility is to be 
recognized in the school, and that is the nobility formed of 
those who possess real, intrinsic worth. And in this case 
the emphasis is to be placed upon the attainment reached 
by honest striving rather than by inherited mental ability 
and advantages acquired through pecuniary circumstances. 



DEMOCRACY IN THE SCHOOL 301 

Has this boy attained much through persistence and suffer- 
ing and overcoming? Then, pin a badge of honor upon 
him and rank him accordingly among the young noblemen 
of the school. There is no more royal incentive to mental 
attainment and high moral standing among pupils than the 
knowledge on their part that every worthy effort will be 
recognized according to its tra^ merit. 

One of the most inspiring decrees of an all-wise Provi- 
dence is that the pampered and spoiled offspring of over- 
indulgent parents are almost certain finally to be surpassed 
on account of these seeming advantages by the children 
of those who toil and struggle to maintain an honorable 
existence. The seasoning experiences of those who come 
up from the lowly walks of life are often the very means 
of their moral salvation and higher achievement in mature 
years. All that is best and most commendable in public- 
school work is achieved through patient trial and error. 
Not only the teacher but the pupils as well must learn to 
approve and commend this superior kind of achievement. 
They must also be ready at all times to put the stamp of 
their disapproval upon all false claims of worth and excel- 
lence. Such claims must be made unpromising to those who 
would make them. 

Public Conscience, There is a passage of Scripture 
which says, "The heart of man is deceitful above all things 
and desperately wicked, who can know it?" This pessi- 
mistic statement may be true in a certain sense, but it is 
made less true by means of publicity. That is, the wicked 
purposes of designing men are likely to be given up when 



302 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

once they are known and disapproved and strongly 
denounced by the pubHc conscience. The past few years 
in this country have witnessed some tragic illustrations of 
what public disapproval can do by way of righting hidden 
wrongs done in high places. A number of prominent offi- 
cials in both public and private institutions have been 
detected in their secret corruptions and have been literally 
overwhelmed by an avalanche of public denunciation. Some 
— at least two — have taken refuge in suicide, others have 
been fined and imprisoned ; still others have expatriated 
themselves in order to escape from the anathemas of an 
indignant constituency. At least one highly reputed offi- 
cial, who was caught trafficking in the public confidences, 
since broken in health and spirit, has by the same means 
been brought to the verge of despair. 

All this punishment has been terribly severe on the par- 
ticular offenders, but they are comparatively very few when 
we consider the great throngs of worthy, honest officials, 
and their punishment has been a most effective deterrent 
to others who might be tempted to follow their example. 
So m the school there must be developed a strong senti- 
ment in behalf of right and just conduct and against that 
which is wrong and unjust. The teacher can do little if 
anything when fighting for the right alone and unaided, 
but when assisted by the conscience of the pupils, properly 
aroused, he simply cannot lose in the fight. 

Methods of Procedure. The chief weapon of offense 
and defense being pubHcity, it will be well to consider some 
specific modes of procedure. The teacher needs to be an 



DEMOCKACY IN THE SCHOOL 303 

eloquent, tactful talker, and he will find it advisable to go 
sufficiently into detail, in bringing out the merits of each 
case, to make the point clear. Now, it was argued above 
that the proud, supercilious bearing of some public-school 
pupils is undemocratic and un-American, and indirectly 
immoral. If this be really the case, the teacher is called 
upon to set forth in clear, Unmistakable language just the 
kind of worth that should be and is to be recognized in 
that school. It is not advisable or necessary to mention any 
names, but. nevertheless, all the pupils are aroused in 
behalf of higher ideals of conduct and worth. So, the first 
real lesson in morals is an exercise in thinking morally. In 
a short time the vain, aristocratic pupil will come down 
oflf his lonely, self-constructed eminence and will begin to 
assume the airs of the democratic citizen. 

The fortified place of the larger group of select or strictly 
exclusive pupils must be undermined in the unobtrusive 
manner suggested above. The direct attack must if possible 
be avoided, for this often arouses the combative natures of 
pupils so banded together against what they inwardly regard 
as being for their best interests. One of the best ways to 
combat an evil disposition in the young is to make the 
desirable type of conduct more enticing than the undesirable 
one. The better feelings are thus aroused and these in 
turn solicit the will. By means of better sentiment gradu- 
ally inculcated that little band of proud boys or girls, 
who would not mingle with the members of the other social 
classes, are brought into closer relations with the school. 
Their former position brought them no satisfactory reward. 



304 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

It was not even combated, but simply made to appear to 
be of little worth. So they gave it up. 

An eminent head of a great university molds the senti- 
ment of the students not only by his public chapel talks but 
by private councils of small class and society groups or 
representatives which he calls and through which he works. 
His most effective method is not to take direct issue with 
any of these factions so much as to appeal to them for their 
cooperation and sympathy in bringing about certain desired 
results. This direct appeal, by the head of the school, 
for the assistance of the students, is certain to bear fruit. 
His position is often strengthened by calling for sugges- 
tions from them, if they are mature young people. On one 
particular occasion this worthy officer called together repre- 
sentatives of all the fraternities and said in substance : 
"We wish to bring about a better feeling in this institution, 
more of common courtesy and of the spirit of common good 
fellowship such as will affect favorably all who come here. 
In what ways can you help bring this to pass?" The 
friendly discussion that followed resulted in bringing those 
present to a fuller consciousness of the real situation and 
finally remedying many of the objectionable features of the 
university society. These student bodies usually mean well, 
even if they do not always do well. It is, therefore, nearly 
always better to work with them with a view to their 
transformation than against them with a view to their 
disorganization. 

The Spirit of Work. Every pupil must be required to 
work until work becomes second nature for him, after which 



DEMOCRACY IN THE SCHOOL iJOf) 

he will have proper reg^ard for the great toiUng, producing 
classes of humanity. It is possible that public-school teach- 
ers ought to bear more of the responsibility than they do for 
the vagabondage in our land. The boy who is permitted 
to drag through the grades of the school without acquiring 
the spirit of hard, persistent study is being thereby mis- 
treated, and he will in time become either an aristocrat — 
if he happens to inherit sufficient means — or a dependent. 
Pupils might as well learn from the beginning, through 
experience, that the work-a-day world in which they live 
is made up largely of plain "dirt and grind." It is then 
that they will discontinue seeking easy, inexpensive means 
of obtaining a livelihood and will acquire such a method 
of performing the arduous tasks of life as to relieve them 
of their aspect of drudgery. 

The youth who, on account of rather superior intellectual 
endowments, learns his lessons at a mere glance, is fre- 
quently not so promising as the one who has to work hard 
for what he gets. The author recalls at least two of the 
former class who, now in middle life, are still looking, 
anxiously but with little promise of success, for some voca- 
tion that is both easy and profitable. But if the growing 
boy be given specific tasks to perform — such as require 
persistence and effort in accordance with his years and 
strength — he is certain to be more democratic and more 
moral. 

Emotional Experience. Finally, the true spirit of 
democracy is fostered through a certain kind of emotional 
experience. True friendships grow out of close acquaint- 



306 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

anceship. The pupils while properly at work and at play 
are cooperating with one another more than they are 
antagonizing one another. The spirit of rivalry is not given 
too free exercise, and so envy and jealousy are kept at a 
low ebb. Mutual helpfulness i^ encouraged to the extent 
that each one realizes that he is personally assisted by the 
others. It is not a great step for the pupil from this point 
to a habitual feeling of kindliness toward his fellows. Of 
course, cheap gossip and expressions of condemnation of 
others are to be reduced to the minimum. On the other 
hand, commendations, one of another, are to be encouraged 
among the members of the school. 

During intermission, a nine-year-old boy of Miss B's 
room ran quickly across the street and closed a gate just in 
time to prevent a drove of cattle from getting in and ruining 
a beautiful flower bed and vegetable garden belonging 
to a nearby resident. Miss B., who knew just how to make 
a valuable lesson out of this little matter, encouraged two 
or three other boys, who were carefully selected, to go to 
the nine-year-old boy and say in substance : "Harold, it 
was very thoughtful of you to go and shut the gate and 
save that man's garden." It is precisely this kind of thing, 
brought about by the teacher's careful direction, that engen- 
ders among pupils that splendid feeling of affectionate 
regard for one another, and that tends to bring them to a 
common level socially. The proud, haughty child, who 
holds himself aloof from the others, must be led tactfully 
into some such act as this. The very experience of prais- 
ing and approving the acts of others will tend to warm up 



DEMOCRACY IN THE SCHOOL 307 

his little, cold heart and to make him a real, active member 
of the social group. 

In short, the several members of the school must be 
brought gradually into the habit of looking for that which 
is commendable in the conduct of one another and of 
expressing their approbation. Thus will be fostered that 
splendid magnanimity, that irispiring cordiality, that true 
spirit of democracy, which is destined to make all the 
world akin. 



REFERENCES 



1 Dole: The Spirit of Democracy (Crowell) ; Ch. XXIX, "The 

Education for Democracy." 

2 Gordy: a Broader Elementary Education (Hinds & Noble) ; Ch. 

Ill, "Democracy and Education." 

II 

1 Dewey: The School and Society (University of Chicago Press); 

I, "The School and Social Progress." 

2 DoTTON: Social Phases in Education (Macmillan) ; "The School 

and the Child." 

Ill 

1 Eliot : Educational Beform (Century Co.); "The Foundation 

of Education in Democratic Society." A volume of epoch- 
making addresses. 

2 Butler: The Meaning of Education (Macmillan) ; "Democracy 

and Education," p. 99 £f. 



308 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE MORAL ASPECT OF ATHLETICS 

The Child's Nervous Energy. \ The normal, healthy child 
has a remarkable overflow of nervous energy. But let him 
remain quiet only one short hour and this strange active 
power within him presses outward with wonderful force. 
This is Nature's way of forcing the young creature into 
almost constant activity during his waking hours. Play is at 
first impulsive, since it has no definite aim. The mere infant 
simply must kick and squirm and coo in order to relieve 
his nerve tension, but these little activities are entirely undi- 
rected. The nerve energy is simply breaking out over the 
paths of least resistance. 

Directed Impulse. Athletic games and sports repre- 
sent a studied effort to direct this play impulse into proper 
channels of activity and to secure ^herefrom certain inter- 
esting and helpful results. Some school authorities are 
inclined to regard athletic sports as a means of advertising 
and building up the school, as though these games had no 
better right to exist than that. Such persons fail to realize 
that some kind of organized play must go on in order to 
satisfy the natures of the young in the school. The pent-up 
energy peculiar to every ordinary child must have an out- 
let in some kind of activity that is good and beneficial to 

309 



310 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

himself and others, or it will vent itself in some undesirable 
direction. 

It is the great possibilities of directing this impulse that 
make athletics an interesting subject of- study here. It 
might be said that the impulse to play is at first compara- 
tively indifferent to its subject-matter. What the physical 
organism calls for is sufficient activity to foster its growth, 
while the neural organism demands the satiety that comes 
from exercise and from the relaxation and repose that fol- 
low. After some experience in playing the ordinary child 
begins to manifest certain predilections as to the kinds of 
games to be played but he is usually willing to take part in 
those engaged in by the children or the older persons whom 
he likes best. He is naturally imitative, and after a little 
practice he may be expected to become an active, enthusiastic 
participant. 

Morality and Strength of Body. One of the funda- 
mental principles of moral culture in the young is to give 
them strong, healthy bodies through well-selected physical 
exercises. The child that is weak and undeveloped in body 
IS weak-willed and at least unmoral, if not immoral. Or, 
conversely, a strong will means, among other things, the 
power to direct the body in the performance of many spe- 
cific acts. A ten-year-old boy, for example, cannot even 
crook his little finger voluntarily without crooking one or 
two of the others in the, same efifort. His inability in this 
case is clearly a matter of inexperience, as it is in many an 
instance of so-called lack of will-power. But strength and 
skill and adroitness in the use of the body and its various 



THE MORAL ASPECT OF ATHLETICS 311 

members are matters of much satisfaction and even of 
exhilaration to the young person possessing such abihties. 

Being intimately associated with bodily conditions, the 
mind of the child has very strong but undefined cravings 
for satisfaction and exhilaration, and unless these cravings 
be satisfied in ways that are normal and beneficial, they will 
incite to abnormal or hurtful ^acts ; or, what frequently 
occurs, they will settle inward and result in physical weak- 
ness, nervousness, and irritability. What a heavy reproach 
upon our modern civilization, so-called, that so many thou- 
sands of our young, who have all the inherited nerve struc- 
tures of a child of freedom, should be cooped up in dark, 
dingy alleys and close, damp flats in the great cities ! A 
cramping, retarding environment renders fully developed 
moral character well nigh an impossibility, and peevish, 
irritable, criminal dispositions as much of a necessity. Com- 
pare the condition of the child in such an environment 
with that of the child who is enabled to get out almost daily 
in summer and enjoy the enlivening and moralizing influ- 
ences of "green fields and running brooks" and you will 
discover one of the reasons why the footsteps of many a 
criminal may be traced back into the dark alleys of his 
boyhood home. 

Every Teacher a Physical Director. If the author is 
right in his contention, the duty of the teacher becomes 
apparent. He must be a sort of physical director for all the 
children under his charge and see that they are given play 
exercises of the proper kind and amount to allow the fullest 
possible development of will and character. Under normal 



312 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

conditions these plays and games may go on very well for 
temporary considerations. Perhaps the first important duty 
is to take a sort of census of the school, in order to find out 
how actively the pupils engage in play. This will reveal 
the fact, most likely, that some are hanging back and taking 
no part in them at all. This matter must receive the same 
carefulness of investigation and treatment as would be nec- 
essary if a child should refuse to eat his meals. The two 
most common causes for the child's backwardness about 
playing with the others of his class are timidity and jealousy. 
If it be a case of the former the shyness will wear ofif 
with a little practice. The child overestimates the impor- 
tance of his little part in the game, so he must be drawn 
into it by degrees. Specific means of inducing him to par- 
ticipate will be readily suggested by the circumstances. The 
chief point of emphasis here is that the teacher must be 
closely observant of the delinquencies mentioned and correct 
them as early as possible. 

The author is acquainted with an extremely tall young 
man who suffered from timidity throughout his entire 
school life. His unusual height and awkwardness made him 
the common object of all the jests and gibes of the school. 
Over-sensitiveness caused him to keep aloof from all the 
school games and to lose the splendid benefits thereof. As 
a result he grew up without the aggressiveness to be desired 
in a man, and with a certain amount of negativeness in his 
moral character. The rough-and-tumble, acrobatic experi- 
ences of the school playground have a wonderfully valuable 
place in the child's training. They are really a part of 



THE MORAL ASPECT OF ATHLETICS 313 

athletics, and should be so recognized. They are never 
reduced to rules, but they teach self-restraint, aggressive- 
ness, and persistence, and give the one engaging in them a 
closer acquaintance with the manner in which others react. 
The pushing and shoving and jostling and bantering and 
the catch-as-catch-can method of wrestling are in the end 
destined to be both instructive^nd civilizing. The tall, lank 
boy referred to missed all of this and slunk away into the 
reading-room to be lost in some imaginative story. He was 
not well looked after by his teachers, and as a result he will 
always be eccentric. 

The second cause of playground reticence, that of jeal- 
ousy, is more difficult to deal with. The child, in this case, 
is fond of some certain pupil and he does not wish to see 
any others of his class play with him or her. This is a 
deep, depressing feeling, selfish in its nature, and one in 
which the child himself takes a kind of secret delight. As 
a result his conduct tends to be ugly and immoral, and he 
even vents his little ill feelings upon those not at all con- 
cerned. The best manner of treatment is to discover the 
special object of his envy, and to have him do that one 
some little act of kindness. This statement may sound rather 
paradoxical, but the best way to learn to regard more highly 
a person disliked on account of jealousy or envy is to do 
him some special favor. So, the young child who has the 
sulks may be induced to give up some advantage or thing 
to the object of his enmity, and the cloud will very probably 
lift at once, after which he will engage in the games with 
the others. s 



314 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

The Question of Rivalry. It may be remembered that, 
in another chapter, too much rivalry in matters of lesson- 
getting and reciting was discouraged. It was thought that 
there are enough higher incentives to work with. But with 
athletic games the case is different, for the very object of 
the sport is to win in a contest with some worthy rival. 
Athletics is not a serious life business, or should not be. 
The spirit of the game lasts only while the game is on, and 
those who stand opposed to one another with all their 
mental adroitness and physical strength during the play are 
trained to stand shoulder to shoulder in the serious matters 
— rivals on the field of athletics, allies in the battles of life. 
Here is suggested an opportunity for sealing lasting friend- 
ships and for engendering that splendid good-fellowship 
which forms one of the strongest ties in human society. 
Even the teacher engages enthusiastically in the game and 
urges on the opposing factions, but he is just as careful to 
give out the sentiment after the contest that it was "all in 
sport," and that "we are all members one of another." 

It is the peculiar nature of athletic games that they give 
exercise to the primitive instinct of enmity between races 
and classes in the form of mock combat, mock heroism, 
and a splendid, aesthetic refinement of the old-time pitched 
battle that was once sure to result when two rival groups 
chanced to meet. Only a few generations ago it was cus- 
tomary for adjoining school districts to meet as real enemies 
of pugilistic war. There were broken bones, bloody noses, 
and black eyes. Out of the fistic encounters which took 
place there often sprung neighborhood feuds of long stand- 



THE MORAL ASPECT OF ATHLETICS 315 

ing-, which were altciuled by mail)- murders and other crimes, 
Bui now primitive, warlike dispositions can find satisfactory 
exercise in athletic contests, which may be characterized 
by all the fierce struggle to win that any belligerent nature 
could demand. 

The part taken by the spectator at the game is little less 
exciting than that of the participants. He first becomes 
fully acquainted, with the rules^ of the sport and then, if 
the contest be a close one, he may be wrought up to a very 
high pitch of excitement as he follows the opposing teams. 
A complete psychology of sport is yet to be written, but 
during the excitement of, say, a close, stoutly contested 
baseball game the enthusiastic spectator's mind runs through 
a rather wide range of emotional ideas. He lives out in 
imagination the experiences of those who are in the critical 
parts of the pla}", and the organic accompaniments of his 
imaginative processes are many and various. The heart 
action is now retarded and now accelerated ; and the respira- 
tion suspended while the result of a "three bagger" is being 
anxiously watched for may catch up with a rebound 
immediately after. 

The Moral Aspect. The moralizing nature of athletic 
games in school is made operative almost wholly by their 
proper management. If some wiser and older heads, who 
have the real good of the cause at heart, do not take charge 
of them, these sports are very likely soon to degenerate 
into various forms of debauchery. Coarse, vulgar lan- 
guage, brutality and unfairness in the plays, betting on the 
outcome, and a disposition to win victory at anv cost, are 



316 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

some of the unsportsmanlike accompaniments of athletic 
games that are not well managed. So many commit the fault 
of letting these matters go until the conditions become bad 
and then they enter into a general denunciation of athletics 
in connection with school or college life. The fault lies in 
the management. Two or three definite ends must be 
earnestly sought, but none of these is suppression. First, 
create a sentiment in favor of clean athletics. Try to see 
that every player and every spectator is at heart really in 
favor of an honorable contest, and declare that such thing 
must and will be brought about. Then, as far as possible, 
induce pupils who stand high in their classes as well as in 
morals to take active part and secure places on the "first 
team." It is a much easier matter to support and cheer on 
an able player if he be worthy through and through. 

The next important movement is to organize the non- 
participants into some sort of "rooters' club" and to teach 
them how to support the players. "The ethics of rooting" 
may furnish an excellent topic for a moral lesson. The 
school, if large enough, may be organized into two or more 
opposing factions each with its own team, and class, or 
factional spirit may be encouraged within reasonable limits. 
Hooting and yelling and inoffensive jeering are a legitimate 
part of the game, but coarse, insulting remarks about any 
member of an opposing team should not be allowed, and 
every effort on the part of a player to win unfairly should 
be brought under the strongest possible condemnation of 
the school. One matter much to be desired and by no means 
to be overlooked is the sentiment of the whole school. If 



THE MORAL ASPECT OF ATHLETICS 317 

all its members can be led to approve, and to become fond 
of, real honor and fairness, and at the same time to dis- 
approve of, and mentally to condemn, foul play, they then 
have thereby learned a valuable moral lesson. 

The close observer of student nature cannot fail to recog- 
nize the normal child's disposition toward play and games 
of sport. There is a natural craving for these things, and 
a certain amount of boisterousHess is necessary to the fullest 
satisfaction of this craving. Give the youth's savage nature 
an opportunity during the game to work off its wild enthu- 
siasm and the latter will not be directed to some kind of 
disobedience in the school. Do not therefore make the plays 
too "tame." The force in the boy must work itself out, and 
the athletic game gives it just the necessary opening. 
Thoughtful supervision is the only prerequisite to success. 

An Example. At a certain high school, the athletic 
spirit was very much on the wane. The principal and one 
instructor took charge of the athletics and reorganized 
them. A mass-meeting of the students, including the high 
school and the eighth grade, was called and athletic officers 
were elected. A body of rules governing the games was 
indicated. It was agreed that students of worthy standing 
would be given the preferences, and that a certain degree of 
low scholarship would be a bar to participation in important 
contests. A final statement expressed a resolution to make 
athletics in the school "clean and fair and honorable." Two 
baseball teams were then organized, representing the two 
literary societies of the high school. These were to play 
against each other and the nine young men making the 



318 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

highest average in the practice games were to constitute 
the "first" team to enter an occasional contest with some 
other school. The whole group were then given specific 
instructions as to supporting the players; yells, songs, and 
the like, being practiced. It was reported that the wise, 
careful management of this matter resulted in much moral 
good to the community and the school. Even the strong 
opponents of athletics were won over and were later known 
to approve of and attend the games. 

Athletics for the School. But here a word of caution 
must be offered, viz., the athletic games are in behalf of 
the school, and not the school in behalf of the games. 
Nothing brings out just adverse criticism quicker than to 
have this converse sentiment predominate. Say in substance 
to the students this: We are proud of our players and of 
what they are able to do to achieve success as athletes, but 
we are prouder of our school as a whole and of the intel- 
lectual and moral standard which it upholds. Games and 
plays constitute an important feature of every good school, 
but they are always subordinate to it. We are much en- 
couraged by the fact that high intelligence, good morals 
and good, clean athletics are, or can become, so closely re- 
lated to one another, and we are depending upon you to do 
nothing at the contest games or on the practice field that 
will bring the fair name of this school into disrepute. All 
attempts at unfairness, all swearing and all betting on the 
issue of the contests are, therefore, entirely out of order 
and uncalled for, and those who practice such things at the 
games are among the real enemies of the school. 



THE MORAL ASPECT OF ATHLETICS 319 

Too many contests with outside teams are certain to 
become an overtax on the time of the players and a deter- 
rent to the intellectual work of the school. The teacher 
must try to create a wholesome sentiment in regard to this 
matter, and whenever the occasion arises for him to make 
a final decision as to the number of inter-school games to be 
scheduled it must be rendered with firnmess and always in 
the interest of the good work of the school. Xo impor- 
tunities of the enthusiastic students must be permitted to 
interfere with his sober judgment. It matters little whether 
we are to consider a district school of forty pupils or a 
college of many hundreds of students, the great majority 
of athletic exercises should be confined to the home play- 
ground. In case of ward schools or high schools an occa- 
sional game may be permitted off the home field, but little 
outside playing is necessary if the matter be managed 
rightly, and much of it is demoralizing. Therefore, let the 
principal, or whoever is -in charge of the athletic exercises, 
do everything within reason to keep up an interest in the 
home practice and to give the maximum number of students 
the benefits of the playground. Again, let it be remembered 
that the athletic exercises are for the sake of the school and 
not the school for the sake of the games. 

A Cure for Depravity. There is much being done of 
late to discover if possible the physical correlative of mental 
delinquencies in children. Professor Lightner Witmer of 
the University of Pennsylvania is publishing a magazine. 
The Psychological Clinic, which has for its object "the 
studv and treatment of mental retardation and deviation." 



320 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

His purpose is to take school children possessing mental or 
moral weakness into the psychological laboratory and by 
clinical and statistical methods discover the underlying cause 
of the weakness, and to give relief by means of scientific 
treatment. Doubtless many kinds of mental and moral 
depravity are closely related to atrophies in muscle and 
nerve structures and a low tonicity of the entire organism, 
all of which may result directly or indirectly from lack of 
exercise. Gradually we must come to know more precisely 
the physical aspect of every such defect and the particular 
mode of treatment necessary. Then we shall be less inclined 
than ever to condemn any child as wholly depraved and 
incorrigible. 

Superintendent H. W. Charles of the Boys' Industrial 
School of Kansas is a strong advocate of wholesome diet 
and muscle-and-brain-building work and exercise as means 
of alleviating mental and moral delinquencies. His idea in 
substance seems to be that a well-developed physical organ- 
ism, brought about by means of proper diet and work and 
play, lies at the basis of mental and moral efficiency. 

For many years the author has been making a special 
study of cigarette-smoking among boys. Among the reports 
of hundreds of cases which he has on file, there are several 
whose cures have been aided by means of athletics. So 
often these boys manifest mental lassitude and many varie- 
ties of physical ailment. These matters in themselves would 
mean weakness of will power. Under such conditions the 
boy is unable to carry out his most serious efforts to reform. 
Several superintendents and principals have reported that 



TllK MOKAL ASl'ECT OF ATHLETICS 321 

such athletic sports as football actively undertaken have 
proved very effective means of aiding the system in throw- 
ing off the poisonous substances, and that as a result of 
such exercise the moral courage was awakened and the 
cigarette habit broken. While the foregoing may be 
regarded as a mere experiment, it is certainly worth trying. 
It is hoped that many other such favorable reports will be 
forthcoming. x 



REFERENCES 



1 Latson, W. E. C: The Outloolc, Dec, '06, "Moral Effects of 

Athletics." 

2 Editorial in The Outloolc, Feb., '06, "Ethical Kevival in Athletics." 

II 

1 Symposium in The World To-day, Jan., '07, "Reform Football." 

2 Symposium in the Beview of Beviews, Jan., '06, "Shall Football 

be Ended or Mended?" 

Ill 

1 Kellor, Francis A.: Education, Vol. 19, p. 100, "Psychical 

Basis for Physical Culture." 

2 Canfield: The College Student and His Prohlems (Macmillan) ; 

Ch. VI, "Athletics." 



322 



CHAPTER XXIII 

SCIENTIFIC CHILD-TRAINING 

Old-Fashioned Methods. What, of scientific value, do 
we really know about developing character in the young? 
Why cannot there be instituted by legal enactment a stand- 
ing committee of experts of eminent ability and unques- 
tioned authority to make experiments and inquiries extend- 
ing over a wide field, with a view to bringing out a body 
of scientific knowledge on the subject of child-training in 
the home ? There is to-day no such service being performed. 
Other matters of less importance, such as sheep-raising, 
have long since been reduced to a science, but parents go 
on rearing their children as of old, guided only by 
instinct, tradition, and prejudice. As a result there are 
among us to-day thousands of criminals, paupers and genteel 
dependents whose lives might have been made useful 
through intelligent training in childhood. Actual experi- 
ments might be carried on in orphan asylums and reform 
schools and in ordinary homes where there was a willing- 
ness to cooperate in the work. The field of inquiry would 
be constituted of the country at large, while the results in 
all cases would be carefully tabulated. 

Agricultural Experiment Stations. In every state in 
the Union there has been established a station for experi- 

323 



324 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

mentation in matters that pertain to the productiveness of 
the soil and to animal-husbandry. Hundreds of thousands 
of dollars are being expended annually in an effort to enable 
the producer to realize more satisfactorily upon his invest- 
ments in every type of agricultural animal, from the "beef 
steer and his sister" to the "helpful hen." The government at 
Washington keeps hundreds of experts employed in the 
bureau of plant industry. Many of these are stationed in 
various parts of the country, while others are traveling 
abroad to study and collect cereals and grasses that might 
be successfully propagated in the United States. 

All this work is contributing immensely to the country's 
wealth, and especially to the material well-being of the 
agricultural classes. The results of all these investigations 
and experiments are worked out on the basis of mathemat- 
ical science. Tabulated bulletins are being sent out by the 
hundreds to those interested, so that scientific methods of 
farming and stock-raising are fast supplanting the old- 
fashioned, wasteful ones. There is now extant much definite 
knowledge as to the proper methods of developing new and 
desirable types of response in productive domestic animals 
and of eliminating undesirable ones. There are known 
methods of adaptation of plants to various conditions of soil 
as well as of changing the soil conditions to meet the 
requirements of growing plants. Moreover, if a farmer has 
a three-year-old horse that balks or a yearling calf that acts 
queerly, he may appeal to the experiment station and receive, 
free of cost, a scientific bulletin and a lengthy personal 
letter covering the case. But if the balky or queerly act- 



SCIENTIFIC CHILD-TRAINING 325 

ing creature chances to be his sixteen-year-old son or his 
fledgeling daughter, he must fight out the case alone, assisted 
perhaps only 1)\- a despairing wife. 

These hearsay and traditional methods of training chil- 
dren have been in use so long that it is difficult as a mere 
matter of course for us to realize the need of a change. 
Time was when pioneer conditions were so common 
throughout this country that^the mere attending circum- 
stances would be depended upon to bring out forceful and 
efifective traits of character. But in these modern, pros- 
perous times such conditions have almost entirely disap- 
peared. The people are becoming more and more closely 
massed and allurements to exciting and sensuous experi- 
ences are becoming correspondingly more numerous in the 
child's environment. Old-fashioned methods of training 
the young are no longer adequate to cope with these chang- 
ing conditions. The child gets into the exciting situation 
before he has had enough practice in self-restraint to enable 
him to combat it successfully. 

Weil-Born but Poorly Reared. We have on our hands 
to-day thousands of young men and young women who 
have been well born but ignorantly reared and who, as a 
consequence, are deficient in morals and economically use- 
less. Of the many, in the college where the author teaches, 
who fail in their classes, very few are naturally dull and 
inapt in their studies. INIost of them were born with 
potentially bright minds and quick wits, and they are the 
children of industrious, prosperous parents, but they are 
pathetically inefficient because of over-indulgence in purely 



336 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

impulsive and spontaneous forms of activity during the 
years of childhood and adolescence, and an almost complete 
lack of experience in sustained, purposive effort. This 
same condition is existent in all our schools and colleges. 
We have all around us parents who have themselves become 
efficient workers largely through the rigorous experiences 
that are incident to pioneer life, but who are more or less 
ignorant of the source of their own strength of character. 

The wealthy centers of the country are full of Harry 
Thaws — minus the shooting-incident, of course. These 
over-indulged, sickly, sentimental young men are driven to 
every conceivable kind of depravity by the insatiable crav- 
ing of an abnormally sensual nature. As times grow more 
prosperous, a dissolute manner of rearing the young threat- 
ens to become our chief instance of criminal negligence, 
unless we develop some scientific means of correcting the 
evil. This evil is greatly aggravated by virtue of the fact 
that our newspaper publicity often makes one of these 
dissipated youths the chief player in a great national theater. 
Witness the Thaw case. Thousands of such young men — 
and there will always be found a young woman to match 
each one — will risk their bankrupt reputations and even 
their necks in the interest of getting into the lime-light and 
securing the applause. 

A Scientific Method Suggested. And so, it might ceem 
advisable to establish throughout the land a number of 
experiment stations for child-culture with the same exact 
methods of investigation and of issuing bulletins that char- 
acterize the agricultural experiment stations. There would 



SCIENTIFIC CHILD-TRAINING 327 

be a general disposition to scoff at these methods and to 
throw the bulletins unread into the waste basket, at first, as 
was true in the case of the agricultural bulletins. But they 
likewise would win on their own merit in time. The public 
schools are already receiving much assistance of this nature 
as a result of the fundamental investigations of such men 
as President G. Stanley Hall and Professor E. L. Thorn- 
dike. But their, as yet, few contributions do not come at all 
into the hands of parents. This other work ought to be car- 
ried on by the same kind of experts as they are, and the 
results could then be sent in condensed bulletins into every 
home where there are children. There is much kindergarten 
material available, it is true, but this serves only to entertain 
children and to dissipate their energies rather than to give 
practice in self-mastery and self-direction. When we think 
of the vast annual expenditure for combating the evil doings 
of those who become criminal largely as a result of careless 
and ignorant methods of early training, surely this matter 
ought to appeal to us from even a monetary standpoint. 

Mental Development Recapitulated. In ordei to get 
at this matter rightly it will be necessary to recapitulate 
one part of this text briefly. Modern science has already 
established a number of important points with reference to 
mental and moral growth. For example, it is .'^hown that 
a mature man's conduct is a kind of net result of two forces, 
namely, inherited dispositions and those acquired by prac- 
tice during childhood. This may mean in a given case that, 
whereas a man inherited a tendency toward intoxication or 
some criminal type of conduct, there was developed during 



338 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

his childhood and youth a set of dispositions that have suc- 
cessfully combated the evil tendencies inherited. This would 
be a case of environment overcoming the natural efifects of 
heredity through specific, intelligent training. It is also 
agreed among psychologists that' every disposition, every 
type of familiar mental or physical activity has correlated 
with it a structure in either the brain or some other part of 
the nervous system. 

Accompanying every thought-process, then, there is not 
only a brain-process, but, evidently, other organic changes 
or activities more or less closely related to the degree of 
intensity of the thought. Under stress of one's course of 
thought for an hour, there are measurable changes in the 
heart action, the blood distribution, the respiration, and 
other organic processes. These inner readjustments may 
result in one instance in better functioning of the digestive 
apparatus, and in 'another in greater readiness to perform 
an outward act. 

One's outward act is determined largely by his most 
habitual type of thinking. That is, his thought habits and 
his act habits are closely related. Scientific mind-develop- 
ment goes on chiefly in a two-fold series of processes. One 
series brings out the desirable possibilities that are latent 
in him. This is a positive education. The other series is 
intended to hold in check or suppress latent possibilities or 
actual tendencies that are undesirable. This is a negative 
education. This dual nature of the educative process ought 
to be clearly understood. The one being educated is con- 
stantly being set over against himself. His lower impulses 



SCIENTIFIC CHILD-TKAINING 329 

and base desires are in many cases to be curbed and pre- 
vented from functioning by a set of higher dispositions 
developed chiefly for the purpose of combating them.* 

The majority of our children of to-day are born with 
fairly good, well-rounded brain structures. What we need 
more than better brain inheritance is a better and more 
scientific set of rules for developing the brains that we have, 
and such rules of procedure should be made the common 
property of all who are in any way related to rearing and 
educating children. To make the work most efifective, 
these principles must be developed by laboratory methods 
by a body of specialists and received by the masses in a 
somewhat dogmatic manner. 

Man Long an Infant. One of the most significant facts 
with reference to man's education, is his long period of 
infancy. For at least the first score of years there is being 
developed within him through experience a central nervous 
system the functioning of which makes possible his various 
modes of mature thought. Now if some important kind of 
experience or practice is omitted in his early training, then 
the corresponding nerve structures are lacking and so much 
mature conduct is rendered impossible. It may be reason- 
able to say that a thief has an inherited disposition to steal, 
but might it not also be reasonable to urge that, if begun 
early enough, there could have been developed through 

* There is possibly a third series of educative processes, namely, such 
as tend to transform instinctive dispositions once useful in preserving 
the race into their refined modifications. Thus the disposition to ensrage 
in mortal combat with a strange person, once inherent in the race, and 
probably still more or less instinctive in young boys, has been transformed 
into what we call manly courage. 



330 PSYCHOLOGIC METHOD IN TEACHING 

intellectual training a disposition that would successfully 
combat the undesirable one ? It has been said that the thief 
has a way of promising himself that each offense is the last 
one. But he is lacking in just the kind of self-restraint 
necessary in his case. 

A Question Outline. The following outline is meant 
to be suggestive of a plan for carrying on this work of 
experimentation. 

I Make exact physical measurements and examinations 
of children of vicious tendencies and habits, showing 

1 The comparative weight of the whole body. 

2 Any possible under-developments or atrophies in mus- 

cles and brain centers that would help to explain 
these evil dispositions. 

3 Whether or not there are diseased tissues and organs 

that may tend to cause or aggravate the vicious 
type of consciousness. 

4 Whether or not the theory herein set forth of the 

possibility of developing counteracting dispositions 
has any validity. 

II By the same careful, painstaking methods, make 
tabulations of the kind and character of child-experiences 
that have contributed most directly to habits and disposi- 
tions that are (a) useful, (b) useless or a hindrance to 
the individual and social well-being. 

I What specific modes of training will develop the 
former and make them permanent? 



SCIENTIFIC CHILD-TRAmiNG 331 

2 How may the latter be most easily suppressed or 

eliminated or transformed into more desirable 
ones? 

3 What effect, if any, have these various modes of 

training had upon instincts or inherited traits of 
character good or bad? 

4 At what stage of development and in what specific 

manner may parents instruct their children in 
matters relating to sex? 
Ill By the most exact and scientific methods possible, 
make a study of suitable mature persons. 

1 How may one, if at all, gain control of the nervous 

and muscular organism so as to bring about self- 
poise, or the ability to become strenuous or poised 
by turns at will? 

2 Inquire into the possibility of one's renewing or per- 

petuating his mental youth by intelligent care of 
the body and by the cultivation of certain habits of 
thought. 

3 Discover the specific methods whereby one may 

acquire the power of initiative and the habit of 
persistent, sustained effort in one line of activity. 

4 Do the offspring of parents who possess character- 

istics named in this chapter (e. g., of pioneers) 
manifest as a rule these same rugged, determined 
dispositions ? 



REFERENCES 

Psychological Clinic (edited by Lightmer Witmer, of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania) is an interesting new magazine which 
represents laboratory methods of studying mental and moral 
delinquency. 

American Journal of Psychology (Worcester, Mass) ; Monographs. 
Select by titles. 

Thorndike: Introduction to a Theory of Mental and Moral 
Measurements (Science Press). A laboratory manual. 

Lees: Eeview of Beviews, Aug., '07, "The Study of the Human 
Plant." An account of the interesting psycho-physical meas- 
urements of children, by Prof. Binet, of Paris. 

Grossman: Education, Oct., '07, "Some Phases of Eccentric 
Mentality in Children." 



332 



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